Max Verstappen has insisted his anger post-qualifying at the Mexican Grand Prix was not aimed at teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian pipped his Dutch partner to pole by just 0.026s with Max’s father Jos Verstappen later claiming the narrow loss motivated the 21-year-old to take victory on the Sunday.
It was Ricciardo’s exuberant celebrations which were also in direct contrast to the clear frustration on Verstappen’s face with the ‘Honey Badger’ maintaining they were driven by his own recent difficult period.
“I didn’t see it as anything personal, like I was rubbing it in. I was super happy because it has been a tough year,” he said in Brazil. “I was the underdog in that fight for pole. So to do it, I was pretty stoked.
“From his [Verstappen’s] point of view, he was the favourite all weekend, topping all the sessions and to get pipped by your team-mate by two hundredths, it is going to piss you off. That is just the competitor.
“I don’t think it was really directed at me. I think anyone missing their first pole by such a small margin is going to be pissed,” he added.
“Even if I missed that pole, if I was in his shoes, even if it was not for my first pole, I would still be upset.”
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Verstappen then explained his reasoning for his visual anger, pointing to a familiar foe.
“I was mainly very angry because of the problems I’ve had with my engine during qualifying and then you know, that weekend I was clearly the fastest but just for 75 seconds I wasn’t. So yeah I was literally pissed off,” he claimed.
“Then, of course, every little thing which comes with it makes me even angrier, I could literally do some damage if somebody would say something wrong to me after qualifying. That’s how angry I was. So yeah, every little thing makes me more angry.”