'He Was Right': Verstappen Explains Mysterious 'Told You So' Radio From Race Engineer

Sunday, 07 April 2024 at 20:00

Max Verstappen had to admit that his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, was right after the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix.

The Dutch driver is currently probably the most sharp drive in Formula One, but he also make mistakes, and he seemingly made one of those at the Suzuka Circuit, even though it wasn't on-track.

Like almost every weekend, teams are trying to fine-tune their setups prior to the race, to make sure their car has the biggest chance of succeeding at the given circuit.

At the Suzuka Circuit, there was seemingly a discussion between Verstappen and his race engineer, often called GP, about what was the correct setup, in which the three-time World Champion was not right.

During the race, GP came on the radio, with the popular words "I told you" and after the race, which Verstappen won, he was asked about the radio message.

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"(Laughing) We had, well, not an argument, but he was like, ‘are you sure you want to do this?’ I'm like, ‘yeah, I'm pretty sure’. Turned out to be wrong. So he was right."

The relationship between the two is often discussed, as for people outside of the team it may seem that it's a bit strange or heated, with Verstappen and GP seemingly "arguing" over the radio.

However, both have dismissed this multiple times, as Lambiase even called the Dutch driver his "younger brother." There is a tremendous respect between them, and as the Dutch driver explained after the race, challenging each other's opinions moves them forward.

"But in a way, it also fires me up, because I'm like, OK, well, even I'm not entirely happy with the balance now, I'll still try to be as consistent as I can be without shouting back at him. But we have a great relationship. And yeah, it works well like that."