Lewis Hamilton tells Max Verstappen to 'act like a champion' after Red Bull star told critics to 'f**k off'

07/25/2024 12:43 PM

After telling his critics to ‘f**k off’ after a poor race in Hungary, Max Verstappen has been warned to ‘act like a champion’ by rival Sir Lewis Hamilton.

The reigning Formula 1 champion came under heavy criticism for his actions on and off the track during last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

He received flack for illegally overtaking Lando Norris at the start and colliding with Hamilton in the closing stages, but more so for not accepting any responsibility for the two incidents.

Most notably, Verstappen unleashed an angry and sweary tirade over his team radio, panning Red Bull’s ‘s**t’ strategy, which shocked many including Sky Sports’ various pundits.

Commentator David Croft suggested a lack of sleep was to blame for his attitude, as Verstappen had stayed up till 3am the night before the grand prix to play sim racing.

In response to those who echoed this, Verstappen told reporters: ‘They can all f**k off’.

After racing virtually unchallenged for over a year, the Dutchman has found himself without the fastest car and is perhaps feeling the pressure of an impending title challenge from Norris and McLaren.

Asked how Verstappen could better deal with his new-found situation, Hamilton told reporters ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix: ‘You have to be a team leader, a team member.

‘Maybe not such a leader, but just always remember you are a team-mate to a lot of people. You have to act like a world champion.’

Asked what acting like a world champion entails, seven-time champion Hamilton simply added: ‘Not like it was last weekend.’

In the build-up to Belgium, Red Bull’s hierarchy revealed that they had imposed a ban on Verstappen staying up late to sim race on grand prix weekends.

But it seems that the 26-year-old plans to ignore both his team and Hamilton, telling reporters: ‘We talked about it. There is no other sim race coming up anyway, so no one needs to worry about that.

‘So no, it’s not that I have a ban or whatever. I also don’t need to tell them what they do in their private time and during the weekends, and that’s the same to me.

‘Racing till 3am is not something new and it’s something very important in my life.

‘It’s always when you don’t win the race, [people] will blame it on, “Ahh, he’s staying up until 3am or he’s being one kilo overweight”. There are always things to make up that you can argue about when you’re not winning a race.

‘I’ve been doing this since 2015. I’m a three-time world champion. I think I know what I can and cannot do.

‘Now suddenly because I have one race where things don’t quite work out, these things are brought up by some people. I think I’m professional enough to know when it’s appropriate or not.’

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