Max Verstappen unleashed his fury on Racing Bulls as the duo of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad made the Dutchman’s Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix a tricky affair.
Verstappen drove a stellar 70-lap race at the Hungaroring to take his 131st F1 podium, on Sunday.
The Red Bull driver finished second on the road, behind race-winner Lando Norris, and ahead of the championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
That said, the 28-year-old’s road to P2, and his second consecutive podium, wasn’t an easy run.
Mid-way through the race, Verstappen was trying to lap the squabbling duo of Lawson and Lindblad, out of Turn 2.
But despite the flashing blue flag panels, the sister Red Bull team did not yield as it continued its own personal battle.
This irked the Dutchman who branded the duo as “morons” in an untelevised radio exchange with his own team.
“Oh, they should get a penalty. This is f**king ridiculous, these morons! My God,” he fumed.
Backmarkers highlight crucial rule gap at the F1 Hungarian GP
Verstappen wasn’t the only driver venting his frustrations after his interactions with backmarkers.
Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri, who led much of the Hungarian GP, had a costly coming together with the Williams of Carlos Sainz that eventually cost him the race lead.
Sainz, also did not yield under blue flags, making contact with the Australian which cost the McLaren driver crucial race time, allowing Norris to jump him for the lead despite the undercut attempt by Piastri.
“Get out of the **** way, you idiot! Oh my God,” Piastri ranted on his own team’s airwaves before an errant gearbox on his MCL40 meant he retired from the race.
And while Sainz was penalised by the stewards with a five-second time penalty, the entire blue flags fiasco at the Hungaroring beckons a closer look at the regulations.
As things stand, while drivers who do not obey blue flags are penalised more often than not, the lapping car’s disadvantage cannot be reinstated – as was evident with Piastri.
Does the FIA need to adopt a stricter quantum of enforcement to deter lapped cars from violating blue flags? Surely, this would be a conversation that will be raised by the teams and drivers as we head into F1’s summer break.
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