Martin Brundle explains why Max Verstappen should privately ‘tear pieces’ out of Red Bull

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Max Verstappen and Red Bull started the year with a dominant car. Verstappen cruised to victory in four of the five first races, with only a brake issue in Australia preventing a clean sweep.

But the Formula 1 landscape has shifted significantly since. With Ferrari, Mercedes and, most of all, McLaren introducing major upgrades, Verstappen has only won three of the last eight.

Heading into this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, the 26-year-old is facing a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding the maximum allocation of engines for the season. He could go four races without victory for the first time since 2020.

Whatever happens, Verstappen will enter the summer break with a comfortable advantage. He’s currently 76 points clear of Lando Norris in the championship.

Kimi Raikkonen overturned a comparable deficit in 2007, but realistically, the Red Bull driver should still pick up more than enough points to get over the line. His main concern will be the team’s broader direction of travel.

They appear to have fallen behind McLaren in the competitive order despite introducing significant developments in recent races. And this could endanger Verstappen’s prospects for the 2025 season.

Martin Brundle says Max Verstappen should air Red Bull grievances in private

Verstappen publicly aired his frustrations with Red Bull over the team radio at the Hungarian GP. He complained about the handling of the car but most of all about his race strategy.

The team tried to extend his first two stints to give him a tyre advantage against Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. But Verstappen was furious that they allowed rivals to undercut and cost him track position.

Speaking to Sky Sports News at Spa, Martin Brundle criticised Verstappen for his ‘disrespectful’ communication. He questioned his gratitude for a team who have helped him win 61 races.

In future, he’s advised the world champion to vent his feelings behind closed doors, as is customary. That would avoid an ‘uncomfortable’ repeat of Budapest.

“I was really disappointed,” Brundle said. “This is a team that’s given him every podium, every victory, three world championships and counting. And I don’t why he was so disrespectful to them.

“They didn’t have a great day, Red Bull. But they’ve had a lot of incredible days for him.

“The best way to handle that is to suck it up on the day – that’s not how Max is hardwired, he’s got a fairly short fuse as we know – and then go and slam the door and tear pieces out of each other. That’s how others have handled it in the past.

“I was really uncomfortable with how he was rinsing the team and his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.”

Verstappen would reject one Mercedes teammate

The squabbling at Red Bull will no doubt be welcomed by Toto Wolff. He still hasn’t confirmed his Hamilton replacement as he holds out hope of signing the second-most successful driver on the grid.

But Wolff has been warned that Verstappen wouldn’t want to race alongside George Russell. Instead, he’d only accept a partnership with the rookie Kimi Antonelli, a driver he’d expect to beat comfortably.

Verstappen and his father Jos are concerned that the 2026 Red Bull engine won’t be a match for that of Mercedes. The Bulls are building their own power units, in conjunction with Ford, after their Honda deal comes to an end.

Back in 2014, when the sport switched from V8s to V6 hybrids, Mercedes established a lasting advantage over the rest of the field. Verstappen is eager to sustain his dominance into a new era, and the Silver Arrows may offer him the best opportunity to do so.