Fred Vasseur in surprise disagreement with Lewis Hamilton over Max Verstappen

Fred Vasseur has a different perspective on how drivers use their team radios, following Lewis Hamilton’s comments on Max Verstappen.

Verstappen’s contentious comments to his team during a fraught Hungarian Grand Prix led to Lewis Hamilton urging the Red Bull driver to ‘remember to act like a World Champion’.

Lewis Hamilton: You have to be a team leader

Verstappen was furious with his team during the Hungarian Grand Prix, a race which started with him being instructed to cede position to Lando Norris as a time penalty loomed – Verstappen had overtaken Norris off the track at Turn 1, having felt he’d been pushed off track by the McLaren driver.

Red Bull was then caught on the hop twice by successful undercut attempts from Mercedes and Ferrari, resulting in Verstappen winding up in fifth starting the final stint. The Dutch driver couldn’t contain his frustration, leading to terse radio messages with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

“No mate, don’t give me that s***,” was just one of his messages back to Lambiase. “You guys gave me this s*** strategy, okay? I’m trying to rescue what’s left. F***! ”

While Verstappen remained unapologetic for how he spoke to his team following the race, a stance that remained unchanged even once his frustrations had boiled off, Lewis Hamilton commented on the situation to say drivers should be aware of their position within a team when engaging team members over the radio.

“You have to be a team leader, a team member,” he said at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

“Maybe not such a team leader but just always remember you’re a team-mate with lots of people and you have to act like a World Champion.”

Asked to explain what acting like a World Champion entails, he laughed: “That’s a good question! Not like it was last weekend.”

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Fred Vasseur: We have to calm down on this

Speaking in the press conference at Spa-Francorchamps, Hamilton’s future Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur was asked whether he shared the thoughts of the seven-time F1 World Champion on how Verstappen had used the team radio in such a public fashion to complain to his team.

“I don’t see the link with Lewis on this, I’m sorry,” Vasseur answered.

“I don’t know if I have to be politically correct or not, but at the end of the day, we have also to keep in mind that we are the only sport in the world where the guys are speaking on the radio during the effort or the race.

“I’m not sure that if you put a microphone on a football player, it would be much better. Even on the referee sometimes. It means that we have also to calm down with this. Or we have to switch off the microphone, but I’m not sure that it will be a step forward for the show. But I will discuss with Lewis about it.”

The issue was even brought up at the most recent F1 Commission meeting, with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali reminding teams of their responsibility to try keeping their driver’s language over team radio – which can be broadcast globally on the world feed – in check.

As for Verstappen, the three-time F1 World Champion urged his critics to turn off his radio if his messages aren’t to their liking, explaining he’ll continue to complain and call out anything he feels is not up to the standards he expects.

“You know, people that don’t like my language – then don’t listen in, turn the volume down,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

“I’m very driven to success, I think I’ve proven that already and I always want to optimise stuff.

“Now, people can argue that you might not be so vocal on the radio, but that’s their opinion.

“My opinion is that it needs to be said at the time, to maybe also try and force that the second pit stop could have been a bit different. That’s how it goes, we are very open-minded, and we are very critical with each other as a team. And that’s been working for us very well, so I don’t expect that to change.

“That’s our approach, I think it’s important that you can be critical because, in this world that we’re living now, I feel that a lot of people can’t take criticism anymore like it used to be. And I don’t want to end up like that.”

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