MAX VERSTAPPEN MAKES RED BULL FEELINGS CLEAR AS ON-BOARD ITALIAN GP FOOTAGE BROADCAST

Max Verstappen punched his steering wheel in anger after a slow pit stop at the Italian Grand Prix added to his weekend’s troubles.

Lining up seventh on the Monza grid, Verstappen admitted it would be difficult to make inroads into the big points-scoring positions given his “not driveable” RB20.

Max Verstappen: There’s no excuse

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

He made up one position on the opening lap as he benefitted from George Russell’s trip through the Turn 1/2 run-off bollards but from there sat behind Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull told him not to worry as, starting on the hard tyres, he was running longer than those around him and would make gains as the race continued. However, that came to naught in a slow first pit stop as his Red Bull mechanics struggled to get his rear-right tyre off.

Stationary for 6.2s, Verstappen was caught on camera punching his steering wheel twice as he made his way down the pit lane to rejoin the race, again behind Hamilton.

Asked by the media, including PlanetF1.com, if Red Bull were not firing on all cylinders, he replied: “I think, today and this weekend, we were weak on a lot of fronts. And a pit stop like that is not ideal.”

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Verstappen went onto finish the Grand Prix in sixth place, crossing the line 38s down on the winning Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Such were his troubles throughout the 53-lap Grand Prix, Hamilton in fifth was 15 seconds clear in what turned out to be a lonely race for Verstappen.

“The car is undriveable,” Verstappen lamented. “It’s a massive balance problem that we have. And of course, not only over one lap, but also in the race.

“It doesn’t matter how many weeks, we have to just keep pushing and work that out.

“There’s no excuse.”

His troubles, though, didn’t end with an undriveable car and a slow pit stop, he also had battery problems that led a snappy radio message to Red Bull.

“Can the people in the background please be awake? I know this is a sh*t position, but it’s important,” Verstappen said over the radio.

Asked to explain that, he said: “It had to do with my battery percentage, because there are certain levels where you are at in certain modes that you use. And basically I see the battery, of course, topping up, and at one point then maybe you can go into a faster mode.

“So I asked, and then they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, you can’.

“Come on! These are obvious things that they need to be on top of. I know that I’m not racing anyone, but that shouldn’t matter. It’s still in an F1 race where you have to maximise everything at specific tracks coming up.”

Scoring eight points to Lando Norris’ 16, Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ standings is down to 62 points while Red Bull are only eight ahead of McLaren with eight races remaining.

2024-09-02T09:03:00Z dg43tfdfdgfd