Red Bull ‘urgently’ needs F1’s summer break

Jul.22 (GMM) Red Bull “urgently” needs Formula 1’s looming summer break to arrive, advisor Dr Helmut Marko admitted on Sunday.

Max Verstappen was visibly and audibly frustrated throughout the weekend in Hungary, but his anger spilled over into fury during and after the race.

McLaren dominated on Sunday, leaving Verstappen complaining loudly and bitterly about performance and strategy on the radio – and furiously battling only for the podium with Lewis Hamilton.

After the pair collided, relegating Verstappen to fifth, Hamilton told reporters: “I don’t feel there should be any hostility. But of course, from his side, there always will be.”

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher said Verstappen’s behaviour on the radio, denounced on the radio as “childish” by the Dutch racer’s own engineer, was “embarrassing”.

“He should be happy that he could still drive at all,” the German said after Verstappen’s airborne incident.

Normally, after bad days in the cockpit, Verstappen vents his frustration on the radio but generally backs his team. But in Hungary, his criticism of Red Bull Racing was sustained.

“I said on Saturday that there are people who are not aware that we need more performance in the car,” Verstappen said. “Certain people in our team need to question themselves.

“Too many mistakes are being made. I still don’t understand the strategy.”

Attempting to calm the waters, Marko says it’s “clear” that Verstappen’s botched race strategy “was our mistake”.

“All simulations gave a different delta for how big the difference between old and new tyres would be,” he told ORF. “I haven’t come across Max yet, but he knows that this can happen.”

Marko says he understands Verstappen’s frustration “but it is not necessary to do this via the radio”.

Some, like 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg, accused Verstappen of “unprofessionalism” for staying up until almost 3.30am on Sunday morning doing a stint in a long-distance sim race.

Verstappen hit back at his critics by declaring that “they can all f**k off”.

Rosberg told Sky Deutschland: “It’s an interesting dynamic. The longer the weekend went on, the more annoyed Max became.

“On the team radio, messages were coming across that were almost below the belt.”

Schumacher agrees: “Tempers have to calm down. Max has to think about it and then they have to find a way out of the hole together.”

As for Marko, he says the summer break – looming after this weekend’s Belgian GP at Spa – cannot come soon enough. “We urgently need this break,” said the 81-year-old.

“In the first three races we thought we would have exactly the same season as last year, but then there was a sudden turnaround,” he added. “Max is not used to this, and we are not used to having to fight so hard with our opponents.

“Of course, the fans and the press like this kind of fight, but we have to endure it and cope with the situation. It is clear that we cannot afford to make even the slightest mistake anymore.”

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