Max Verstappen and his father Jos have made less than flattering comments about Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton in the wake of last weekend’s Mexico GP.
The young Dutchman scored his fifth Formula 1 win at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday but, for the second straight year, his success was overshadowed by Hamilton clinching the championship.
While many have largely praised the Brtion on his achievement, now sitting alongside Juan Manuel Fangio as a five-time champion, the 21-year-old played down his accomplishments.
“Of course he is extremely good,” he told Swiss newspaper Blick. “But [Sebastian] Vettel could win with his car, Ricciardo could win with his car – I could win with his car.”
Verstappen has set his own target of four world titles by the age of 30 and is depending on Red Bull to replicate their same era of success with Honda and post-2021 as they did with Vettel between 2010-2013.
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A key thing that will help in that quest is being the out and out lead driver for the Milton Keynes squad which he will become when Daniel Ricciardo leaves for Renault next year.
In qualifying in Mexico, however, the Australian proved he remains a match for Max by snatching pole, something his father Jos claims hugely irritated his son.
“I tried to calm him down a bit,” he told Dutch TV show Peptalk. “He was upset because the car wasn’t right. [On Sunday morning] he said right away he slept very badly.
“He was irritated because he missed out on pole because of the car, but also because of Ricciardo’s exuberance celebrating pole.
“So he was really agitated and he only wanted one thing – to win that race.”
That he would do after benefitting from the Honey Badger’s slower start and going on to claim a commanding victory by 17 seconds over Vettel.
