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Max Verstappen doesn’t shy away from using expletives when he’s unhappy behind the wheel of his Red Bull car. But Martin Brundle once learned ‘the hard way’ that this can backfire.
Verstappen’s radio messages are regularly censored before being played out on the world feed, whether he’s complaining about the balance of his car or the conduct of another driver.
The FIA don’t punish drivers for swearing on the radio because they recognise that emotions are running high. However, Verstappen was fined for his language during an FIA press conference in Singapore in 2024.
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In response, the multiple world champion refused to engage with questions until he was outside the confines of the press room, though this ‘strike’, of sorts, didn’t last long after talks with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
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Early on in last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen reported problems with his downshifts as he chased race leader George Russell.
In a radio message played on lap 11, Gianpiero Lambiase asked: “Any change there with the downshift, Max?”
And Verstappen replied: “No, it’s really s—“
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Sky Sports pundit Brundle recalled that he once used the same word at a race in France, prompting his engineer to leave the garage for the remainder of the session.
He said: “I once used that word, that beeped out word there, to describe how my car was handling in Magny-Cours, and my engineer just said, ‘Less [beep] all around please’, took his headset off and walked out the back of the garage for the rest of the session. So I learned that the hard way.”
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A divisive character for much of his career, Verstappen started to become more popular last year, at least going by the reception he received at certain races.
The driver himself puts this down to his status as the underdog in the 2025 championship as he tried to hunt down the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri with an apparent mechanical disadvantage.
As he revealed in 2023, Brundle would love to have a drink with Verstappen, more than any other driver on the grid.
Brundle described the Dutchman as ‘extremely straightforward’ and ‘honest’. Indeed, the Dutchman has been widely praised for his unapologetic authenticity.
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