Horner defends Verstappen for his "direct" radio messages after heated radio exchange revealed

Following the wild race of the Hungaroring, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted that he fully understood Max Verstappen's frustrated radio messages towards his team.

Max Verstappen endured a difficult time at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The reigning champion failed to beat the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri during qualifying for the Mogyoród F1 race.

The race then saw the Dutchman fail to keep up with the pace of the Mclarens, and he was rather locked in a fight with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton and Verstappen were locked in a fight for third place before the second pit stop, but that battle ended early when Mercedes called the Briton in for a tyre change.

However, the pair met again in the closing stages of the race when Verstappen rapidly closed in on Hamilton. With eight laps left, Verstappen attacked Hamilton at Turn 1, making a dive from a long way back.

The Dutchman locked up both front wheels and with Hamilton having turned in, Verstappen slid straight on and hit Hamilton's right-front wheel. The reigning champion went up in the air and off. He was able to continue, but dropped behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, and finished down in P5.

During the races, fiery exchanges of words were heard between Verstappen and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. The Dutchman criticised the McLaren for a first-lap incident which saw run wide at Turn 1 while he also expressed his opinion about Red Bull's offset strategy that forced him to catch up after his first and second tyre change.

Commenting on the race, Verstappen said: "It was a very bad race. Everything went wrong. The strategy was bad. We just know it's very difficult to overtake here. I just had to do that, try to fight. Lost so much time with that, even in that second stint.

"You get undercut the first time - okay, not good. This happens. And then the second time I get stuck behind again. Then you just don't get past it. Then they let me out again and then I drove into traffic with backmarkers after that too. I don't understand it at all really. It's just very bad,"

Speaking about the heated radio communication between himself and Lambiase, Verstappen said: "[ I was angry] because again I just got stupid comments back on the radio as well.

"Instead of them just trying to talk to me and maybe admit that it was not ideal, of course, that also calms me down. But then they also go against it. Yes, that's totally the last straw for me then.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted that he fully understood Max Verstappen's frustrated radio messages towards his team.

"Max was frustrated, which is understandable. He has a direct line of communication with his engineer. This is something they discuss together.

"I don't think that's something for the media. Everyone sees that we need to perform better. Everyone is working hard on that. We will have all discussions behind closed doors."

Asked what Lambiase meant by saying childish, Horner added: "I don't think GP was talking about Max at that moment. I think he was referring to others on the radio complaining about penalties. I don't think GP was referring to Max at that moment.

"Others are clearly going for penalties, because clearly the stewards also listen to the radio. They [Verstappen and Lambiase] have been together for eight years. There are things we could have done better in the race today. But that is something we will talk about as a team."

GP: “Well, that’s some gentle introduction.”

MV: “No mate, don’t give me that bulls**t now. You guys gave me this f**king strategy, OK? I’m trying to rescue what’s left. For f**k’s sake.”

Having caught back up on Hamilton after despatching Leclerc, Verstappen wasn’t impressed by the tactics used by Hamilton as the Mercedes driver ran him out wide exiting Turn 2.

Having run wide during his battle with Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen asked Lambiase to express his opinion.

Lap 63:
MV: “Should you leave a car’s width?”

GL: “We think you were behind at the apex, Max.”

MV: “OK, whatever, mate.”

Having made contact with the seven-time world champion, Verstappen blamed Hamilton for the incident.

Lap 65:
MV: “He moved under braking.”

GL: “I’m not going to get into a radio fight with the other teams, Max. We’ll let the stewards do their thing. It’s childish on the radio, childish.”

Lambiase told Verstappen that he needed to be checked by the medical delegate which made Verstappen even angier.

Lap 70:
GL: “I understand the medical delegate needs to have a look at you, examine you, under parc ferme conditions when you get out.”

MV: “If they could send the medical delegate up to the stewards, maybe they can have a look if they are all okay.”