Max Verstappen joked with journalist Tom Clarkson about his language in the press conference following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz both suffered reliability failures in Baku on Sunday, opening the door for Verstappen to lead home Sergio Perez for a Red Bull one-two – their third of the season.
The Mercedes of George Russell earned his third podium of the year in P3 and, as always, the top three drivers all head to the briefing room for their press conference.
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One of the questions put to Verstappen, who himself has retired from two races this year owing to reliability, was whether he had any sympathy for the situation Ferrari found themselves in.
“I would always say ‘s*** happens,’” he amusingly said in the press conference.
“That’s racing, it happened to me, it happened to many people in the past, unfortunately it’s happening to Charles.
“If I would be in the same situation, I would also be disappointed, I think that’s very normal.
“But it’s about how you come out of it, you always look at how to improve things, that’s what we did as well in the beginning of the season.
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“You learn from it, you don’t like it , you are angry, but we turned it around but you always have to stay on it because something else might happen and you always have to prevent these issues from happening.”
Russell then asked the Dutchman if his answer was “a yes or a no then,” to which Verstappen repeated “Like I said, s*** happens.”
“We will keep it clean, I promise,” said Clarkson.
“Are you not allowed to swear? Come on, it’s not really swearing!” Verstappen said to the amusement of Perez and Russell.
The press conference was then ended, so the reigning champion joked that all he has to do to bring an end to the media event is swear.
“So, next time I’ll just say it and that’s the end,” he quipped.
Verstappen’s win now puts him 21 points clear in the Drivers’ Championship after Perez surpassed Leclerc for second.