Max Verstappen Unyielding in Face of Criticism After Hungary

Verstappen stands firm, telling critics to adjust their volume, not his approach, after contentious Hungary GP.

Max Verstappen has come under considerable scrutiny for his radio demeanour during the Hungarian Grand Prix and his off-track criticisms aimed at his team and performance levels.

Red Bull Racing’s top brass have assured that they will be having discussions with the Dutch driver.

While it remains unconfirmed whether these discussions have taken place, Verstappen has nonetheless defended the provocative nature of his radio tirades, advising his detractors to “not listen” and to “turn down the volume.”

“If you don’t like my language, then turn down the volume. Don’t listen to me. I am highly motivated by success, I think I have already proven that, I always want to optimise things, now people can argue that I am too talkative on the radio, but that’s their opinion.”

“My view is that one must speak up at the right time to perhaps also try to push for the second pit stop to be a bit different, that’s just the way it goes.”

“We are very open-minded, very critical of each other, this has worked very well for us so far so I do not expect that to change.”

Verstappen believes that the world at large is overly sensitive to criticism and he is adamant that his approach in this regard will not change.

“That’s our approach, I think it’s important that you can be critical, because in the world we live in now, I feel that anyway a lot of people can no longer accept criticism as before and I do not want to end up like that.”

Formula 1 is unique in broadcasting communications between drivers and their teams—an aspect not commonly shared by the majority of sports. Verstappen has assured that he will continue to speak his mind.

“It’s also the case in other sports, people say things but they don’t have a microphone on them.”

“So, for the broadcast, you could say that I don’t care, I say what I want, but it’s our sport naturally, we communicate a lot with the pit wall, we have the opportunity to speak, maybe in other sports, they swear about things they didn’t like, a teammate didn’t pass the ball, you call it as you want, there’s no microphone, that’s just how our sport is, I suppose.”