Former Formula 1 commentator Ben Edwards admits that he was unimpressed by Max Verstappen’s outburst over the radio during the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Dutchman suffered from a DRS issue in qualifying that saw him lose out on pole position to Charles Leclerc, and the issue struck again in the race when he was trying to pass George Russell having made a mistake earlier in the afternoon.
Already frustrated at his error, the Dutchman began shouting at his team as the rear wing continually refused to open down the straight, but he would eventually beat Russell and team-mate Sergio Perez to the win after Leclerc’s reliability failure.
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Edwards, who gave his voice to the BBC and Channel 4, as well as multiple official season reviews, suggests that Verstappen stop chastising his team over the radio, as it is counterproductive.
“Yes I do find it a little bit surprising, that he’s still like that on the radio. I do think he’s maturing hugely and watching his driving style, he’s a world champion, he’s maturing all the time,” he told Express Sport.
“I think actually that weekend was another lesson to him. He ended up winning the race anyway even though things were not perfect and you have got to kind of work through things and you can still come out on top.
“He’s learning that, he’s still young, even though he’s been in Formula One for quite a while and he’s maturing.
“But I find it a little disappointing when he’s so kind of hard on the team, when yeah sure something’s not right but they’ve got to work together to get the best they can.
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“And he did do that in the end and he did deliver. I do think that relationship with the team is important and it does surprise me sometimes that he is quite so vocal on the radio.
“But I do think it’s something he is going to gradually mature and find other ways of dealing with it.”
Gianpiero Lambiase – Verstappen’s race engineer – was on the receiving end of the shouting from the reigning champion, who took him out for an ice cream to apologise for giving him such a hard time.
Team principal Christian Horner understands the irritation felt by his driver, so is more than happy to let it roll off the shoulder.
“He was venting his frustration and there was a little bit of road rage going on at points which is understandable, he must have hit the button about 50 times on one straight,” he explained.
Verstappen was again left annoyed after qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix when he was denied improving on P4 by a crash for Perez, who collected Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and brought out the red flag.