Revealed: Shocking radio message between Max Verstappen and his engineer

Max Verstappen comfortably led Red Bull to a one-two finish at the season opener in Bahrain last weekend.

Judging by the results from the Bahrain Grand Prix, the 2023 season could be dominated by Red Bull as the team look to retain both the constructors’ and drivers’ championship.

Max Verstappen led his team to a front row lockout in qualifying before pulling away at the start of the Grand Prix to win by an incredible margin.

Ferrari and Aston Martin looked to be far off the pace of Red Bull, with neither team ever really causing Verstappen any trouble during the Grand Prix.

It is now been revealed that things could have been much worse for Red Bull’s rivals, at the team actually told Verstappen that he needed to slow down during the race.

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It is unclear whether Gianpiero Lambiase, Max Verstappen’s race engineer, was telling the Dutchman to slow down to minimise the risk of any issues with the RB19 or if he was doing so to stop the race becoming an embarrassment.

Lambiase can be heard over the team radio telling Verstappen that he needs to slow down to target a lap time of 1:37:00, with Charles Leclerc behind the Red Bulls only being able to muster a 1:37:20 at the time.

Clearly confused by the request for him to slow down, Verstappen tells his team that his teammate Sergio Perez must also slow down if he does, to which Lambiase tells the 25-year-old that “there is no race at the moment.”

Verstappen does not initially slow down enough for Red Bull’s liking, prompting Lambiase to get annoyed with the Dutchman.

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“Max, so you’re looking for plus 0.7 on the dash, I’ll get bored of this so just do it please,” said Verstappen’s race engineer.

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It is scary to think that Verstappen was told to go 0.7s per lap slower during a Grand Prix and still won by a considerable margin, giving more evidence to the claims that Red Bull will dominate 2023.

Mercedes’ George Russell has told the media that he expects Red Bull to win every single race this season, such is the pace gap between the energy drink giants and the rest of the grid.

The 2023 grid looks very competitive from second place downwards, but it is clear already that Red Bull will take some stopping if they are to be beaten to either championship this year.