Max Verstappen’s dad has sparked a fresh drama in the Red Bull garage after a bitter attack on Daniel Ricciardo’s Mexico antics. Max Verstappen’s dad has launched a stunning attack on Daniel Ricciardo, slamming the Australian’s antics at the Mexico Grand Prix. Former Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen also hung his son out to dry by revealing the Red Bull driver was “irritated” and “annoyed” at Ricciardo’s pole-position celebrations on Sunday morning (AEDT). 29-year-old Ricciardo suffered his eighth retirement of the year in Monday’s Mexico Grand Prix and lashed out at his RB14 in an emotional post-race interview when he declared he didn’t see the point of showing up for the final two races of the season. He freely offered his seat to his 2019 successor Pierre Gasly after a clutch failure cost him a certain podium finish behind Verstappen.
Ricciardo’s comments have been labelled excessive by some commentators, but Jos Verstappen said his source of anger towards the future Renault driver stems from Ricciardo’s stunning last-gasp, pole-clenching lap in the final qualifying session. According to Dutch media, Jos Verstappen labelled Ricciardo’s pole-position celebrations at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez track over the top after his flying lap bumped Verstappen back to second on the grid. While Max Verstappen went on to dominate Monday’s race, leading from the first corner to the finish line, Jos still had Ricciardo’s celebrations on his mind when interviewed after the race. Jos said Max was “angry” after losing pole to his teammate and had difficulties sleeping the night before his victory. “I was not really happy myself, but I spoke to him (Max) before bedtime,” Verstappen told Ziggo Sport. “I tried to calm him down a bit, he was particularly angry because the car was out of order. That pole position is nice, but winning is of course much more important.” “He was especially annoyed by missing the pole and by the car, but also by Ricciardo.
“He celebrated his pole position with an exuberance as if he had become world champion. He (Max) was very angry. “He was greatly exasperated and wanted only one thing that was winning the race.” He said his son: “Usually goes a little bit harder when he’s angry”. Max Verstappen said in his post race press conference that his dad’s advice has helped him turn his 2018 season around. Since missing out on qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen has recovered to record two wins and seven podium finishes — and has largely dominated Ricciardo in qualifying and on race day. When asked to explain the turnaround, Verstappen said: “The difference is I just listened to myself and I do my own thing. “Even if there are a lot of things written, I really don’t care. My Dad always taught me in karting back in the day if I was maybe overdriving or something, he would always tell me: ‘Max even if you think you’re not going fast enough, it’s still fast enough’. “I basically put my feelings back to that a little bit and it seems to have made a bit faster.”
