Verstappen: "If you don't like it, stay at home"

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• Max Verstappen had a race to forget at the Hungarian GP, finishing "only" in 5th place and attracting attention above all with his tantrums and swearing.
• After the race, the 26-year-old takes a stand, but does not see an apology as appropriate. "I think we just need to do a better job," says Verstappen and teases: "If you don't like it, stay at home."

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Max Verstappen did not want to apologize for his tantrums, swearing and accusations against his own team. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, the three-time Formula 1 world champion had severely criticized Red Bull's strategy, among other things, and did not hold back his opinion in other respects either. Words often had to be bleeped out.

Hungarian Grand Prix

Piastri wins thanks to stable order - everything goes wrong for Verstappen

"I don't think we need to apologize"

Towards the end of the race, his race engineer had had enough of Verstappen's complaints and indirectly described them as childish over the radio. "I don't think we need to apologize," said Verstappen after the race: "I think we just need to do a better job."

And he wasn't done yet. "I don't know why people think you can't be clear over the radio," Verstappen emphasized on Sky Sports F1 from England, "It's sport. Anyone who doesn't like it should stay at home."

However, the three-time champion and still the clear leader in the world championship is one of them. In the penultimate race before the summer break, Verstappen, who had reportedly been taking part in a sim race until late into the night, made some unusual mistakes. Shortly before the end, he collided with Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes during an overtaking attempt and dropped back to fifth place.

Aggressive and irritable

Both his parallel involvement in sim racing on race weekends and the verbal disputes with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase are nothing new. What is new, or at least unusual, for Verstappen is that he is anything but unrivaled in his Red Bull.

The McLaren, with which Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris achieved a double victory at the Hungaroring, is currently the faster car. Mercedes, with Hamilton in third place in Hungary, is close behind and Ferrari is also pushing.

And so Verstappen suddenly appears on the track as he usually did before his dominant period: aggressive and irritable and no longer so controlled and unassailable. Next weekend's almost-home race at Spa-Francorchamps - Verstappen's mother is Belgian - will show whether this is just a snapshot or will become a permanent feature of the championship battle for the rest of the season.

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