Verstappen says tetchy radio talk was 50% serious, 50% joking

A series of awkward discussions with Lambiase - also known as GP - became one of the talking points of the Belgium weekend as Verstappen cruised to his eighth victory on the bounce to extend his championship lead over teammate Sergio Perez to 125 points. 

• Who is Gianpiero Lambiase, Max Verstappen’s race engineer?

The Dutchman had already apologised for a tense, expletive-filled back-and-forth with Lambiase during Friday’s qualifying session, but the heated exchanges continued in Sunday’s grand prix. 

When Verstappen found himself running second behind early leader Perez, Liambiase asked him to “use your head” over his tyre life. 

Verstappen was also heard sarcastically quipping that he “can’t see the weather radar” during a mid-race shower and saw a request to make a late stop for “pit stop training” and to secure the fastest lap bonus point rebuffed. 

Asked after the race if the exchanges had been serious or light-hearted, the two-time world champion responded: “Probably 50-50 in the messages.

“I know that the team doesn’t like to do another stop [during the race], but I like to mention it so they might get a bit nervous. 

“I like the response of ‘no, no, we are not doing that today’. It’s fine. We know each other very well and we have a very good relationship.”

Verstappen went on to stress the importance of his relationship with his race engineer, admitting it would “not be ideal at all” if he and Lambiase were to stop working together at any point. 

“I think it’s very important, the relationship with your race engineer,” he said. 

“I find it always a really important part of your performance, and not only your race engineer but everyone close around you, your performance engineer and these kinds of things. 

“Of course, over the years you build up much more a relationship and you know each other better, so yeah, for sure, if he would be removed then that would definitely not be ideal at all.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner conceded that Verstappen and Lambiase’s relationship is “sparky”. 

"I think to race engineer Max Verstappen, you've got to have strength of character because he is one tough customer," Horner told Sky F1. 

"Many race engineers would crumble under that pressure and GP has got the strength of character to deal with that.

"He deals with him firmly, but fairly and there's a great respect between the two of them. That comes out of a mutual trust that you must have with an engineer.

”The only problem is that conversation between the two of them has 200 million people listening, but there's a great bond between the two of them and a great trust between the two.

“Sometimes it gets a bit sparky between the two of them, but Max is the kind of character that will rev very quickly and it will come down very quickly. GP doesn't forget so quickly."