Ferrari boss defends Max Verstappen over Lewis Hamilton's claims that the driver didn't act like a world champion

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur defended Max Verstappen over Lewis Hamilton's recent remarks following the Hungarian Grand Prix. While he did not entirely support the Red Bull driver's behavior during the Hungaroring race, he didn't agree with Hamilton's take either.

The Mercedes driver was recently asked to share his thoughts on Verstappen's antics during the Budapest race. In reply to this, he stated that the latter's behavior was not 'world champion' like. Vasseur, when asked about this, said that F1 was the only sport where participants were audible throughout, and it was unfair to expect perfect communication in tense situations. He did, however, say he was happy to talk to Hamilton about the matter.

The Red Bull star had a turbulent race in Hungary where he had multiple skirmishes with his team on the radio, especially with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.

"I'm sorry, but I can't agree with Lewis (Hamilton) on this one," Vasseur said at the Belgian GP press conference. "I don't know if you always have to be politically correct. Ultimately, we mustn't forget that this is the only sport in the world where the participants can be heard continuously during a race."

"If you give a football player a microphone, it won't get much better," Vasseur explained. "Let alone a referee. That's why I think it's important that we keep it normal about this. Of course, we can just not broadcast the radios, but I think that would make for a lot less spectacle. But I'm happy to talk to Lewis (Hamilton) about it," he concluded.

Interestingly, Sebastian Vettel supported Hamilton back in 2018, when the seven-time world champion used expletives on the radio. The Mercedes star had termed Verstappen a "di**head" during that year's Bahrain Grand Prix.

When asked about it in the press conference after the race, Vettel stopped Hamilton from answering, and he replied on his behalf. The former F1 driver stated that bringing out such questions was not fair.

He took a similar stance as Vasseur: the drivers were full of adrenaline during the race, and it wasn't "nice" to draw a comparison and make "a story about nothing."

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Max Verstappen defended his stance on Hungarian GP outburst

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing prepares to drive in the garage prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 28, 2024, in Spa, Belgium. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

While there is plenty of criticism for Max Verstappen's team radio communications, the Red Bull star expressed that he was satisfied with his choices and had no reason to change his approach.

"You know, if people don't like my language, then don't listen in, turn the volume down you know," Verstappen said ahead of the Belgian GP. "I'm very driven to success, I think I've proven that already, I always want to optimize stuff, now people can argue that he might not be so vocal on the radio but that's their opinion."

In a nutshell, Verstappen has always been very blunt in his approach to communicating with race engineer GP Lambiase. The Dutchman has never held back from sharing his thoughts on the radio, and it is unlikely that he would take things differently following the recent criticism.