Sky F1 commentator David Croft once again addressed the radio escapades of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen in Hungary and described his behavior as “inappropriate.”
As the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix progressed, Verstappen appeared increasingly frustrated, venting his anger on his team radio after Red Bull asked him to give back a position to Lando Norris, and the FIA investigated a possible overtaking manoeuvre by Verstappen off the track at Turn 1.
David Croft claims Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is ‘out of order’ in Hungary
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
From there, Verstappen’s frustration only grew, fuelled by two undercuts and a collision with Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the race. Croft had linked Verstappen’s fiery personality on the radio back then to his sim racing activities, after he competed until 3am before the race in Hungary.
“I don’t want to sound too critical, but Max Verstappen sounds like a man who stayed up late last night to do a sim race, which he did, and then got up early this morning to do a sim race, which he did, rather than get a good night’s sleep in Budapest, which it sounds like probably wouldn’t have done him any harm,” Croft said during the Hungarian GP, with the commentator repeating his point several times over the course of the race.
And appear on the Sky F1 PodcastCroft again criticized Verstappen’s radio behavior at the Hungarian GP.
After podcast host Matt Baker said Verstappen was “holding himself so well” in the face of stronger competition from Mercedes and McLaren in F1 2024, Croft replied: “Apart from the race in Hungary, where I thought his behaviour on the radio was inappropriate.”
“And I’ve said that a few times in my comments, so let’s move on…”
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Not immediately, however, as Croft expanded on his speech, claiming that Verstappen appeared and sounded “irritable” at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
“Maybe I was brooding a bit too much that day, but yeah, it was interesting, you know, when I watched the race, not only was Max under pressure, he just looked irritated, sounded irritated, he sounded tired and grumpy,” Croft continued.
“I know how I feel when I haven’t slept properly the night before.
“He sounded really grumpy and the team agreed that he was grumpy too because they told him he couldn’t stay up that late again doing sim racing the nights before a race.”
On Croft’s final point, Verstappen would address rumors that Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s chief advisor, had banned his sim racing activities during a race weekend. Verstappen flatly denied this claim.
“We talked about it,” Verstappen said of Marko to media outlets such as PlanetF1.com. “Anyway, I said you don’t have to worry. There’s no more race coming up.”
“It’s not like I have a ban or anything.”
After the summer break, F1 returns to action in 2024 with the Dutch Grand Prix – Verstappen’s home race – an event he has not missed since returning to the calendar in 2021.
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