Verstappen needs “to act like a world champion” after radio outbursts

Lewis Hamilton has suggested Max Verstappen should change his behaviour after ranting at his own Red Bull team during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen, who finished fifth in Hungary following a clash with Hamilton, repeatedly lashed out towards his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, with aggressive radio messages during the race.

The reigning world champion appears to have grown increasingly frustrated as the season has progressed and it has coincided with Mercedes and McLaren winning races.

Verstappen shrugged off suggestions about changing his approach over team radio when he arrived in Spa-Francorchamps for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

When asked about his radio exchanges and the language he used, Verstappen said: “People that don’t like my language don’t have to listen to it. Turn the volume down. I am very driven to success. I think I’ve proven that already.”

However, when Hamilton was quizzed how he felt Verstappen should deal with Red Bull’s recent performance, he said: “You have to be a team leader, a team member. Maybe not so much a team leader but more so just always remember you are a team-mate with lots of people and you have to act like a world champion.”

When pressed as to what acting like a champion entailed, Hamilton laughed and added: “That’s a good question… Not like it was last weekend!”

Hamilton and Verstappen collided multiple times during their turbulent 2021 title fight and they made contact again during the race in Hungary last weekend.

Both avoided a penalty from the stewards and had promised to discuss the incident in private after the contact at the Hungaroring. However, Hamilton says that conversation has not happened.

“No, we didn’t talk afterwards. We went to the stewards and that’s it. We’ve not had a talk,” he said.

“I don’t know if we will, if we get time. Maybe we’ll talk in the [drivers’] parade this weekend, maybe. I’ve not felt like there’s necessarily a need to, but there might be something he wants to say. But we didn’t get the time to do it.”