Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is clearly annoyed with the amount of criticism he has copped in the aftermath of his well-documented foibles during the Monaco Grand Prix weekends, so much so that he has suggested he may “head-butt someone” if it continued.
One of the first questions the 20-year-old Dutchman was asked was what he needed to do at the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend to reverse his fortunes, to which he quipped, “Not hit the wall! It’s as simple as that! And I don’t need to change my approach – it’s just a little bit more finesse I guess. Sometimes sh!t happens.”
Verstappen’s incident-packed season is well documented, and when quizzed about what he intended to do to avoid the incidents that have plagued him in all the races this year.
He replied, “Well you know, I get really tired of all the comments about me that I should change my approach. I will never do that, because it’s brought me to where I am right now.”
To the direct question: Why have you had so many accidents?
Verstappen was clearly fuming but keeping it civil and after a long pause responded, “I don’t know and like I said at the beginning of this press conference, I get really tired of all the questions and I think if I get a few more I’ll head-butt someone…”
“Everybody makes it so dramatic. Of course, the beginning of the year so far, it hasn’t been going that well and not in the way that I liked it. A few mistakes, I think especially Monaco and China.”
“But it doesn’t make sense to keep talking about it, because I get really tired of it and it feels like there are no better questions out there than to keep asking me about what happened in the previous weekend.”
“So I’m just focusing on what’s ahead and I’m confident that I can turn things around. The speed is there. I’ve always been quick every single weekend. It would be much more of a problem if I would be really slow because that’s a critical problem.”
Last year in Canada an electrical issue sidelined him after ten laps in the race, this year Renault have an updated power unit for their customers in Montreal.
Verstappen confirmed, “I expect a little bit more horsepower – but yeah, we’ll see on track how it’s going to perform but, of course, it’s always good to get an update.”
Big Question: Is Max getting too much flak for his foibles?