Max Verstappen issued a brutal response to a question posed to him in a press conference ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Dutchman seemed to take exception to the question, which came from Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft on Thursday.
Verstappen and his team are in one of the toughest periods they have endured in years. After last Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, which the four-time champion finished just sixth, Red Bull chiefs held crisis talks over how to boost their flagging fortunes.
His manager Raymond Vermeulen was observed entering the Red Bull garage to berate Helmut Marko shortly after the end of that race. And, speaking afterwards, Austrian team adviser Marko suggested that they are worried that Verstappen could walk away if they cannot improve their performance.
Croft chose to ask Verstappen about the 81-year-old’s comments in the official FIA press conference on Thursday. And the Dutchman was initially willing to give a proper response.
The Red Bull driver said: “I don’t know, to be honest. I just keep working, you know, keep trying to improve the car. I think, naturally, Bahrain wasn’t a great weekend for us. I think we were all pretty disappointed with that.
“And we just keep on trying to improve the car, come up with new ideas to try on the car. Competition is tough. That’s how I go about my weeks, just trying to improve the situation.”
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Croft then followed up on that by asking whether he felt Marko should be so worried about their star driver’s future with the team. It was then that Verstappen gave a curt response which included telling the Sky Sports regular to mind his own business.
The 27-year-old replied: “No, I think [you should] just focus on commentating, I’ll focus on driving and then you don’t need to think about any other scenarios.”
Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull which runs until the end of the 2028 season, signed ahead of the 2022 season in the aftermath of his first title success in the previous season which saw him controversially come out on top in his furious duel with Lewis Hamilton. But his deal does contain performance clauses which could give him the chance to cut his stay short if Red Bull cannot provide him with a quick enough car.
It is understood that some of those clauses could be activated later this season should Red Bull not hit a pre-defined performance target based on their position in the championship. Mercedes have been linked with Verstappen, while he would also be a key target for Aston Martin should he become available.
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