David Croft calls ‘tetchy’ Max Verstappen ‘out of order’ for Red Bull radio comments

Sky F1 commentator David Croft revisited the radio antics of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen in Hungary, saying his actions were “out of order”.

Verstappen cut an increasingly-frustrated figure as the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix progressed, his team radio venting starting after being told by Red Bull to return a position to Lando Norris, with the FIA investigating a possible overtake off the circuit at Turn 1 for Verstappen.

David Croft claims Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ‘out of order’ in Hungary

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Verstappen’s frustrations only built from there, fuelled by being undercut twice and a late-race collision with Lewis Hamilton, with Croft at the time having linked Verstappen’s fiery persona on the radio to his sim racing activities after he competed until 3am ahead of the Hungary race.

“I don’t want to sound too critical, but Max Verstappen is sounding like a man who stayed up late last night doing a sim race, which he did, and then got up early this morning to do a sim race, which he did, rather than getting a good night’s sleep in Budapest, which by the sounds of it, he could probably have done with,” said Croft during the Hungarian GP, the commentator repeating his point several times throughout.

And appearing on the Sky F1 podcast , Croft delivered a fresh round of criticism regarding Verstappen’s Hungarian GP radio conduct.

After podcast host Matt Baker suggested Verstappen “carries himself so well” in the face of strengthened competition from the likes of Mercedes and McLaren in F1 2024, Croft replied: “Apart from during the race in Hungary, where I do think the way he acted was out of order on the radio.

“And I said that a couple of times in commentary, so we’ll move on then…”

Catch-up on the latest Max Verstappen talking points

👉 Helmut Marko calls Red Bull RB20 a ‘b*tch’ in ‘only’ Max Verstappen claim

👉 The F1 2024 Drivers’ Championship standings without Max Verstappen

Not immediately though, as Croft extended his speech, claiming Verstappen looked and sounded “tetchy” on Grand Prix Sunday in Hungary.

“Maybe I dwelled a bit much that day, but yeah, it was interesting that, you know, watching that race, it wasn’t just Max under pressure, he just looked tetchy, sounded tetchy, he sounded tired and grumpy,” Croft continued.

“I know what I’m like if I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep the night before.

“He did sound grumpy, and the team agreed that he was grumpy as well, because they told him that he couldn’t be staying up that late again to do sim racing the nights before a race.”

To Croft’s final point, Verstappen would tackle rumours of a ban being placed on his sim racing activities during a race weekend by Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko, a claim which Verstappen flatly denied.

“We talked about it,” Verstappen said of Marko, while speaking to media including PlanetF1.com. “I said, anyway, you don’t need to worry. There’s no other racing coming up.

“It’s not that I have a ban or whatever.”

F1 2024 returns to action after the summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix – Verstappen’s home race – and an event he has not lost since it returned to the calendar in 2021.

Read next: Red Bull to roll-out new RB20 development plan with Perez prediction issued