Red Bull Racing advisor
Helmut Marko explained what went on behind yet another salty radio exchange between
Max Verstappen and his engineer.
Max Verstappen
expressed some worries going into the Sunday race at
Suzuka Circuit despite qualifying on the pole. He suggested he wasn't happy with his car's long-run feeling.
Red Bull played with the triple World Champion's car setup ahead of the race as they tried to fine-tune some things and eliminate the bad feeling that Verstappen had.
Apparently, there was also disagreement about the adjustment of the front wing on his RB20, as his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, proposed less downforce and the 26-year-old wanted more.
After the first stint on the medium compound tires, with which he wasn't happy, Verstappen could be heard on the radio admitting that the wing should have been adjusted in a different way.
That was followed up by a bit salty remark from his engineer who said: "I won't say I told you so but understood. Thank you." Helmut Marko commented on the radio exchange after the race:
"That is the old married couple coming out again! There was a very long discussion before about how many clicks of the front wing we had to change. Max insisted and Gianpiero was happy when it turned out that he was right in the end."
Verstappen also
addressed the exchange during the press conference after the race, admitting that it turned out his engineer was right.
Fortunately for him, it was easily adjustable, and his pit crew managed to adjust the front wing during his first pit stop in less than two seconds.
“Max and his race engineer are very experienced, also together with the data engineer. They know what to do and they know what Max likes.
"It was more or less the right decision, we just had to make a small adjustment after the first stint, so during the first stop."