Red Bull have rubbished accusations of unprofessionalism towards Max Verstappen after the Dutchman's bad-tempered Hungarian Grand Prix outbursts.
Verstappen finished only fifth after moaning constantly about his car, the team's "s**t" strategy and then Lewis Hamilton following their collision while he pushed for the podium. Angry radio messages are hardly out of character for the triple Formula 1 champion but his complaints in Hungary even saw race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase snap back at him more than once.
Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft pointed out during the race that Verstappen had been up until 3am the night before, sim racing in the virtual 24 Hours of Spa. He suggested on more than one occasion that the lack of a good night's sleep might have made the Dutchman especially grouchy.
Pundit Nico Rosberg agreed and pointed out the difference between Verstappen's preparations and those of title rival Lando Norris, who finished second behind race-winner Oscar Piastri after some team orders from McLaren.
The 2016 world champion said: "[Norris'] bed time was 11:05 not 11, 11:05. Wake-up was 8:05am. Breakfast was already set, exactly what to eat. So he was hyper-professional, which was nice to know. In contrast, you have Verstappen, who until 3am last night, was sim-racing. That's a bit disappointing, isn't it? It just shows that he's too used to his ease of domination."
It is not the first time this season Verstappen has stayed up late for a virtual race the night before an F1 Grand Prix. But, as Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko pointed out, when he did it at Imola in May he still went on to win the race.
The Austrian said: "He was up even longer in Imola, I don't know where the sleeping times came from again, and won the race. Max has a different rhythm to me or other people and the time he went to bed is nothing out of the ordinary for him. He didn't even wake up at 10 o'clock in Zandvoort when the helicopters flew over his motorhome. He's got his sleep quota. He's had it as usual. That's rubbish."
Team principal Christian Horner concurred, adding: "People draw conclusions, but Max knows what's required and we trust his judgement on that."
Meanwhile, Red Bull have acted to close the loophole which would allow Verstappen to walk away from his contract.
Marko used his position as a Red Bull Racing director to insert a contract addendum allowing the 26-year-old to quit if he ever left the team. But the Austrian has now signed another document agreeing to at least see out his current contract, which runs to the end of 2026.
It is a fatal blow to whatever slim hope Toto Wolff still had that he might be able to convince Verstappen to join Mercedes for next season. Teenager Kimi Antonelli remains the favourite to replace Ferrari-bound Hamilton and won a Formula 2 feature race for the first time on Sunday. But, questioned about the Mercedes seat, the 17-year-old himself admitted: "I don't know if I will be ready, to be honest."
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