Why Lambiase was ordered to silence by Verstappen in sprint race

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24 April 2022 at 10:30
Last update 24 April 2022 at 13:18
  • GPblog.com

Max Verstappen was told by Gianpiero Lambiase over the on-board radio in the sprint race that he could use in his battle with Charles Leclerc, but he didn't want to know anything about it. The Red Bull Racing driver clearly let his race engineer know that he needed to keep quiet for a while.

Speaking to Motorsport-Total.com Verstappen gives more text and explanation about his remark. The 24-year-old Dutchman, who eventually won the sprint race, says that Lambiase started talking while he was braking. The radio is "quite loud" according to Verstappen, so he cannot hear what is happening in the car when someone is talking over the onboard radio.

Other tire compounds today

Verstappen knows that Red Bull has its tire grading in better order, but the Dutchman let it be known immediately after the race that he is still taking Ferrari into account. On the softs, Leclerc was already suffering from graining relatively quickly, but Verstappen knows that Sunday may also be driven on the mediums and the hard tires. The harder the compounds, the less graining will occur and so that could be to the advantage of the Ferrari's.

We may also see the rain tires back in Sunday's race. Prior to the race at Imola, there is a good chance that there will be showers and that the asphalt will therefore be damp or wet. In that case, we will start on intermediates.