Red Bull driver says he should not have used the words he did
Thursday 6 December 2018 12:21, UK
Max Verstappen has expressed regret over his expletive-laden radio rant when his Red Bull car retired with an engine failure during Sunday's Hungarian GP.
The 20-year-old swore four times as he bemoaned the latest problem to strike the team's Renault power units after dropping out of the race inside five laps when running fifth.
Red Bull unhappy with Renault
Hungarian GP driver ratings
But 24 hours on, Verstappen has issued an apology for his language in a post on Instagram and explained why he was so frustrated.
"Looking back on yesterday the disappointment is still there," said Verstappen, who has now retired from four races this season.
"However, I should not have used the words I did in the heat of the moment. Emotions were running high after a good start to the race.
"These frustrations came for a reason, after another unexpected engine failure which have been happening too often over the past few years.
"We came to Budapest with high expectations and not being able to be competitive made it hard to swallow for us. I will go into the summer break hoping we will be back stronger after it."
Verstappen's Hungaroring retirement, which was caused when the MGU-K on his car failed, came just seven days after team-mate Daniel Ricciardo dropped out at Hockenheim with another engine fault.
Speaking to Sky F1 on Sunday, both Verstappen and team boss Christian Horner questioned the value for money Renault were currently providing Red Bull - with the latter saying "I'll let Cyril [Abiteboul, Renault's team boss] come up with the excuses afterwards."
When his comments were put to Abiteboul by Autosport, the Renault F1 chief replied: "Our bosses have stopped reading what Christian Horner is saying about us since 2015."
After years of speculation, the two parties have agreed to split at the end of this season with Red Bull beginning a new partnership with Honda.
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