Max Verstappen was left irate. (Image: Getty)
The frustration boiled over for F1 world champion after he made some catastrophic errors in the virtual 24 Hours of Daytona race. Representing Team Redline, the Dutchman was bidding to win the event for the second time, but his hopes were ruined after receiving two separate time penalties.
The race began at 12.45pm GMT on Saturday, and Verstappen, along with team-mates Chris Lulham and Diogo Pinto, were leading with around six hours to go.
But in the early hours of Sunday morning, the 27-year-old slipped up in the wet conditions, appearing to aquaplane as he made contact with a GTD car.
He was able to overcome that mistake though after returning to the pits. Despite dropping to fourth place, he was able to continue before falling foul of the rules twice in quick succession.
The man drove into the pit lane in what was deemed an unsafe manner and was given a 40-second time penalty. Inexplicably, he then repeated the misdemeanour and was penalised by a further 40 seconds, and didn’t hide his anger afterwards.
While sitting in the simulator, Verstappen was seen shouting and swearing at the screen. And the sanctions all but cost his team victory as they failed to make up the ground to the leaders.
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Verstappen’s outburst is not a surprise given the swearing controversy that came with his fourth successive F1 title win in 2024. As well as being warned for his conduct over team radio during races, he was also punished by the FIA for using bad language during a press conference in Singapore.
He was subsequently ordered to complete some “work of public interest” for the transgression, And he later took aim at the authorities by claiming they were trying to take passion and emotion out of the sport.
“You always have to be politically correct,” he said “That’s always been the case, but I think with some of the things that have come in lately, it makes it a little bit less enjoyable.”
He seemed to be backed by the Grand Prix Drivers Association, . “Our members are adults, they do not need to be given instructions via the media, about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery and underpants,” it read.
“With regards to swearing, there is a difference between swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing. Such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as a Formula One car, or a driving situation.”