Max Verstappen’s Race Engineer Won’t Put Up With His BS

For all Max Verstappen’s brilliance as a Formula 1 driver, he can be a bit… well, racing driverish. The sport is no stranger to hot-headed drivers and rudeness, but when you’re a two-time World Champion, you’re likely used to getting what you want.

However, Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase – known as GP – was having none of Verstappen’s cheekiness during the weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. Several outbursts from Verstappen over the radio were countered with calm, cutting comments from Lambiase that put Max back in his box.

There were several interactions to enjoy for the neutrals to enjoy, but highlights include Verstappen swearing about only just scraping through to the final part of qualifying. “It’s just sh*t execution,” he fumed.

“OK, and then when the track was two seconds quicker for your final lap and you didn’t have any energy left, how would that have gone down?” retorted Lambiase. “But you tell me what you want to do in Q3 and we’ll do it. Let me know.” Sassy.

In the race itself, as Verstappen went from sixth to first, he pitted and went out quickly on soft tyres. Worried he would fry the tyres and throw away his win, Lambiase urged caution in an entertaining, passive-aggressive way.

“You used a lot of tyre on the out lap, Max,” he said. “Not sure that was sensible.”

In a season where Verstappen is romping to a third world title, we need all the entertainment we can get. Here’s hoping Max and GP become F1’s new comedy double act.