Toto Wolff praised Max Verstappen for growing up and acting mature around the track. After what Verstappen did today, Wolff might have to take his words back. The World championship leader suggested something during the post-race interview that took the F1 community by surprise and possibly cost him the race win. Fans went berzerk on social media trying to understand what the Dutchman has done. But what did he exactly do?
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Max Verstappen took the lead of the race from Charles Leclerc early in the race and was set to win the race. However, Nyck de Vries crash called out the safety car just moments after Verstappen pitted. This meant his teammate and Leclerc got a cheaper pitstop and jumped the championship leader. Verstappen did get past Leclerc but was not able to catch up with Checo as the two Red Bulls matched each other’s pace for most of the race.
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
Christian Horner came on the radio after the race suggesting how Verstappen got unlucky with the safety car and could’ve won the race. Nevertheless, the Dutchman did start to catch up with Sergio Perez bit by bit during the final laps. Max Verstappen eventually set his personal best time on the last lap as well. He did, however, reveal a piece of shocking news after the race ended during the post-race interviews.
Verstappen explained how he pushed his tire a little more at the start of the hard stint, which made the tires overheat, making him lose ground to Perez. He then suggested that he played around with the setting to compensate for the overheating. All this while, Checo was building a gap. Max eventually found the right setup toward the end of the race when he started to eke out of Sergio’s lead, but it was too late by then.
Max Verstappen’s play with the setting has left his fans bamboozled as the championship leader could’ve actually won the race had he been careful with it at the start of the stint. Suggesting the F1 race is not a video game, fans expressed their feeling on social media.
Fans react to Max Verstappen’s mid-race antics
Fans took to Twitter to express their concern regarding Max Verstappen’s foolishness, which probably cost him the race. Many fans asked Max to concentrate more since it is an F1 race and not sim racing, which he loves. Others suggested that Verstappen is just making excuses for not being able to catch up to Checo. Let’s see how the fans reacted.
Can someone tell him this is not a videogame 😭
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
Is it some toy car that he's "playing" around with it ?? 😭😭
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
Some could not even digest what Verstappen said and were shocked at what he did. Some asked what does it even meanwhile others called him annoying as he threw away a potential race win.
he did what???😭
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
HES SO ANNOYING 😭😭😭😭
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
What does this even mean wtf
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
Then there were those who called Max a dumb*ss to play with his settings, while others suggested he had a mental illness.
oh so he’s a proper dumbass
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
Since Verstappen is from the younger generation of drivers, some called him an iPad kid for fidgeting around with the settings.
He just accepted second and was being an iPad kid with his steering wheel 😭
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
he was so bored he didn't even try to catch up i hate him 😭
Max has said that he overheated his tyres and played around with his settings when he was behind Checo. [@ErikvHaren]
There were some who suggested that the Dutchman got bored with sitting behind Checo and played with the setting, losing the chance to catch up. This was one of the boring Azerbaijan GPs which lacked track action. The safety car because of the crash and restart was the only time we got any kind of action.
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What do you make of this year’s Azerbaijan GP? Did you enjoy it?