Today’s press post-race press conference included a bit of a scolding from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the wake of Sebastian Vettel’s first-lap incident. The young Dutchman has come under fire for his erratic racing this season but has turned that criticism into constructive feedback and managed to turn his game around over the last three races. As such, Verstappen had a warning for the media.
“I think next time you see Seb, maybe you should tell him to change his style, because honestly it’s not acceptable.
“That’s what they said to me in the beginning of the season so I think they should do the same [to him].
“And of course, Seb shouldn’t do anything, and just drive again, and learn from this, and go on.
“That’s my advice to everyone in this room.”
He may pass it off as it doesn’t bother him but clearly it is present in his mind and he didn’t like getting rebuffed by the team or the press for his overly aggressive style in the beginning of the season.
To be fair to Vettel, Max doesn’t have four world championships and didn’t string a total of five incidents in five races this season so the criticism may be slightly ill-placed. Vettel has had his moments and Sunday was one of them but so has Lewis-admittedly far fewer than he ever used too and that’s been one of the terrific things to watch in Lewis’s career—and Fernando Alonso and others.
I can understand Vettel’s incident on Sunday and there were contributing factors but still, he took the blame and moved on. That also is something Max struggled to do in his five incidents earlier this season. Don’t crow too early, Max, the season isn’t over yet but you’re definitely heading in the right direction as evidenced in the last three races.
Hmmm… When did Max suddenly join the priesthood? What he didn’t see in the footage is Seb being stuck behind Hamilton and ahead of Bottas at turn 1. I think Max calling out Vettel is like a the pot calling the kettle black. Guess it takes one to know one…
Have you even seen the footage of the incident? You can’t crash in the back of someone who is behind you. Vettel braked too late, pure and simple.
But Max isn’t even critizing Vettel, he is backing him up. Accidents happen, drivers learn from it and everybody should move on.
You Don’t get it do you? Max isn’t criticizing Vettel, he’s criticizing the media. He sticking up for Vettel, “And of course, Seb shouldn’t do anything, and just drive again, and learn from this, and go on.”
Yes, I do…that’s why the headline says “Verstappen scolds media” not “Verstappen scold Seb”. My point is that his example doesn’t work very well.
I’m sorry but it read like the title was “Verstappen scolds Seb”. But i don’t agree that the example doesn’t work very well. If you look over the last two years Max and Seb’s number of incidents and accidents aren’t that far off, only Max strung most of them together at the beginning of the season. And in his own way Max is saying what Lewis is saying that the media shouldn’t put every incident under a microscope and start questioning the drivers. These guys are on the limit all the time in order to be competitive, and sometimes they… Read more »
Max isn’t saying anything about Seb. He is whining at the media: “You picked on me, but you’re not picking on Vettel, and that’s not fair!” Max is asking for equal respect for his driving, but, as Todd pointed out, Max hasn’t yet earned the same respect as 4x champ Vettel. Max needs to be quiet and drive clean for a while, before he starts criticizing anyone – even the media. Keep your nose clean, Max.
No, the problem is that the media was already fishing for negative comments on Vettel’s driving. Max let the media know that they should just stop with the constant picking on drivers when they make a mistake, drivers learn from them and then move on.
Shut up and drive, kid.
I’m finding that Ver-crash-en’s arrogance is turning me against the ‘young dutchman’.
These passive-aggressive comments to the press, indicate to me that he resents the fact he’s been criticised for his litany of errors, and doesn’t accept that they were errors.
He’s had two weekends where he’s managed to keep his nose clean, well one if you consider the ‘kiss’ with Bottas in the first corner in Canada. It’s a bit early for him to be claiming that his crash-tastic days are over.
As you said “shut up, and drive clean, kid”
If you look at penalty points VET vs VER, since 2015 when VER joined the circus. Its 12 vs 14… I’d say he has a bit of a point in his comments. And thats 12 points by a world class 4 time champion to boot, not a new kid on the block.
Vettel has had 207 opportunities to gain penalties in his career in F1. Max has had 68. I think Max’s strike rate is much higher than Seb’s in total. Since 2015, Seb has been battling hammer and tongs for the title with the pressure of Ferrari on his shoulders, Max has been battling for a race win. For me, that’s a big difference.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been vocal about his unforced errors for sure but I think Seb still has a good track record to lean on and Max is getting there.
Bottom line is the situations are totally different. VER’s criticism came after a multiple race string of crashes. VET had one mistake.
Easy for HAM to criticize as well. It’s easy to never get in incidents when you’re routinely on pole.
It was a joke.
I would suggest that Max has no place to point a finger at any other driver until they crash 5 consecutive weekends, including with their teammate. The kid is fast but immature, and worse he thinks he’s beyond reproach.
He didn’t point a finger at Vettel, he was standing up for him. He was pointing a finger at the media, that was already picking on Vettel after that incident. Drivers are human, they make mistakes and the media shouldn’t pile up on them as soon as they are involved in an incident.