Red Bull relaxed about Max Verstappen’s ‘road rage’ at Spanish Grand Prix

Christian Horner has said that Max Verstappen’s “road rage” during the Spanish Grand Prix was “understandable” after the Dutchman expressed his frustration over the radio in Barcelona.

Verstappen eventually took his third consecutive win in Spain, capitalising on Charles Leclerc’s retirement after engine trouble to lead home a Red Bull one-two.

The 24-year-old was not happy, however, with a faulty DRS that worked only intermittently during the race, having also lost out on a chance at pole in qualifying due to a loss of power on his final lap.

“We can’t even make the f****** DRS work, unbelievable!” Verstappen fumed over team radio after one moment of DRS disruption.

Horner, his team principal, said the issue is one that Red Bull must get on top of.

“There was a little road rage going on at that point which is understandable because he must have hit the button 50 times on one straight,” Horner said to Sky Sports of Verstappen’s comment.

“It is something we need to get on top of.”

Verstappen’s victory in Spain enabled him to climb to the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings ahead of Leclerc.

The Dutch driver secured his maiden world title last season, but has previously said that he is not one to “hold back” if he is unhapppy about something during the race after clashing with his team on the radio.

Long-time Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko oversees the team’s driver development programme which helped guide Verstappen into Formula 1, and describes the Dutchman as an “emotional racer”.

Though Red Bull were surprised by the DRS issue, Marko is confident that they will be able to fix it before this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

“You have to calm [Verstappen] down,” Marko told Motorsport Total.com. “I mean, we were surprised by this problem ourselves and you still have to make the best of it.

“When he didn’t press the button on the kerb anymore, it worked properly. He’s just an emotional racer, that’s alright.

“We instructed him to remain calm and to only press once. Before that he pressed the button several times, so that the DRS then closed again. Thank God it then opened at the right moment.

“We now know where the problem lies. There are still five days [before Monaco] and a day has 24 hours for us, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”