During the post qualifying press conference, Max Verstappen could not resist rubbing it in the face of Renault. The first-time pole man and the other two, were asked about Red Bull’s former engine supplier, Renault and the Dutchman trolled them.

Racing Line’s Peter Vamosi mentioned that Renault claimed that their engine is now at 1000 bhp. He asked Max Verstappen to put that in perspective with Honda and Mercedes engines.

However, Verstappen quipped, “Well, if they claim to have a thousand horsepower they have a really bad car! I think it’s better to do the talking on the track than in the media anyway.”

This cheeky response prompted a chuckle from Lewis Hamilton, as everybody knew about Red Bull and Renault’s vendetta.

Valtteri Bottas chipped in, saying, “Actually just yesterday I asked the team – because we had some engine issues, we had some talks about the engine and I asked how much horsepower we had in qualifying and the engineers said they don’t know, they don’t actually know, so no one knows.”

Earlier in the month, prior to the British Grand Prix, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said that Daniel Ricciardo’s move to Renault had benefitted Max greatly. He said, “Since Daniel has left, Max has assumed the role of the senior driver within the team and the responsibility that goes with that. There’s a different level of maturity, of direction and sense of purpose with him. That has really rounded the package with him.”

“As the form driver, he is,” Horner said. “As the driver in the form of his life, arguably over the past 12 months, he’s been the best driver in the world.

“How do I substantiate that? He’s not in the best car. But when you look at the results he’s got out of that car since Montreal last year, some of the performances he’s put in, he’s made virtually zero mistakes in that period.

“It’s only natural that there’s always the next generation coming. Lewis has got the benefit of experience, he’s still extremely quick, he’s in the best car, in a very well-oiled machine.”