Max Verstappen explains 'can the people in the background please be awake?' team radio during the F1 Italian GP

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has said that he was annoyed at the team for not providing him with the required data during the Italian GP. The Dutch driver finished the Italian Grand Prix in P6, and lost eight points to his championship rival Lando Norris.

The three-time world champion was on an alternative strategy as compared to the drivers around him as he started the race on hard tires in an attempt to get the jump during the pit stop rounds. However, he was unable to take advantage of the strategy due to higher degradation and switched to a two-stopper like most of the other drivers.

During the race, Max Verstappen had a peculiar radio exchange with his race engineer when he asked the team to wake up. In his post-race interview with ViaPlay, the 26-year-old explained his radio message and said:

"In the race, my battery was relatively empty, while fighting Lando of course. Then I had to go to a certain setting. At some point, they have to tell me when I can go back to the quicker setting. I ask, 'can I go back?', 'oh yeah, yeah you can.'"

"Then I thought 'what is this?,' you guys have all the data the entire time, you guys can exactly see when I can make those steps. I shouldn't have to ask when I can go back. We might be in no man's land, but you still have to be on top of things. Otherwise, I can just stay home," he said.

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Max Verstappen analyzes his Italian GP

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that he got the most out of the result but wasn't satisfied with the race management.

Speaking with Sky Sports, he said:

"I thought we got the most out of the car in terms of position but not in the way we approached the race. The pace was not strong enough so we had to do our own race and had a bad pit stop. I think strategy-wise we didn't optimise it. Some cars did a one-stop and we did a two-stop which was not the best."

Max Verstappen scored eight points from the race and moved to 303 points with eight races and three Sprints remaining in the 2024 season. He still leads Lando Norris by 62 points.