Brundle Likes Verstappen But Wishes He Didn't Do One Thing

Wednesday, 24 July 2024 at 14:00

Martin Brundle discussed Max Verstappen's race in the 13th round of the 2024 season in Hungary and pinpointed one thing he wished the Dutchman didn't do.

Max Verstappen finished the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix in P5. Although P5 doesn't sound that bad, it was the triple World Champion's third-worst result of the season, and he definitely wasn't satisfied with it.

The 26-year-old had the pace to compete for a better result. However, his team made a wrong strategy call, which allowed Lewis Hamilton to undercut him.

It then turned out to be much more difficult to overtake at Hungaroring than Red Bull initially expected, and Verstappen got stuck behind the Mercedes driver, which frustrated him. Martin Brundle wrote in his column for Sky Sports F1:

"Max furiously thought his team called him in much too late because he lost track position to Hamilton."

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"Cue much angst and beeping required for Max's radio calls as he berated his long-suffering engineer and friend Gianpiero Lambiase, and the team who've given him every one of his race victories and three, probably soon-to-be four, World Championships."

It is safe to say the triple World Champion didn't handle the situation very well as he raged on his team radio, which upset even his own race engineer, who is quite used to his personality. This brings us to one thing Brundle wishes Verstappen didn't do.

"I always say that you can't cherry-pick the bits you like about world-class sports people, they come as a package which adds up to their success. I'm such a fan of Max as a driver and a person, in awe of his talent, but I wish he didn't treat the team like that."

The 65-year-old isn't the only former F1 driver who thought Verstappen went over the line during the race in Hungary. 1996 World Champion Damon Hill suggested he thought the Dutchman's engineer deserved an apology. Brundle added:

"His legacy should be more sporting, but we now know the two words, consisting of only seven letters, he would reply to that statement."

By two words consisting of seven letters, the former F1 driver meant "F**k off," which is something that Verstappen already said after the Hungarian Grand Prix when he was approached with criticism of his behavior on team radio.