Verstappen has no regrets about team radio: 'Then don't listen to it'

Verstappen has no regrets

Verstappen received criticism for his critical notes towards Red Bull, but it is not going to change the way he communicates. "People that don't like my language, then don't listen in. Turn the volume down," the reigning world champion is adamant. "I am very driven to success. I think I've proven that already. I always want to optimise stuff."

The world championship leader continued, "People can argue that you might not be so vocal on the radio, but that's their opinion. My opinion is that it needs to be said on time to maybe also try and force that the second pit stop would have been a bit different, and that's how it goes. We are very open-minded. We're very critical to each other as a team, and that's been working for us very well so I don't expect that to change," Verstappen said.

The 61-time Grand Prix winner was then asked if anyone from the team had addressed him about his language yet. "That's our approach. I think it's important that you can be critical. Because in this world that we are living now, I feel anyway that a lot of people can't take criticism anymore like it used to be. I don't want to end up like that."

Verstappen does not like public team radios

Consequently, Verstappen is not necessarily the biggest fan of the fact that radio traffic can also be followed by people at home. "In other sports things, people say things, but they don't have a mic attached to their mouth, so in a way, maybe for the broadcasting, of course, you can argue that. I don't care. I say what I want. That's our sport as well, naturally, because you're communicating a lot with the pit wall. You have the option to talk. In other sports, maybe you swear yourself about stuff that you didn't like or a teammate didn't pass you the ball, but there is no mic, so it's just how our sport is, I guess."

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy