Max Verstappen leaves Sky Sports F1 pundit unimpressed with Abu Dhabi GP antics

24 November 2023 , 14:01

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Max Verstappen was in the thick of the action in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix second practice (Image: Getty Images)

Max Verstappen left Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft unimpressed with his radio moan at Alex Albon during Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice.

There was a pit lane queue after the first red flag of FP2 on Friday. And everyone was keen to get back out on track as quickly as possible after losing more than 20 minutes of running time during the session.

Williams, with their garage at the end of the pit lane, sent their drivers out into a queue. And neither of them were prepared to wait for it to shorten as they muscled their way onto the track ahead of others who had been waiting.

Verstappen, who was two cars back, was not at all happy. "Ah yeah, lovely, well done there," he complained sarcastically, before asking his race engineer: "Can you please report that?"

That request prompted a derisive reply from commentator Croft: "Says the man who literally stopped for 12 seconds at the end of the pit lane in Singapore! Come on, Max. 'Can you please report that'. It's a practice session!"

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And that was not the only time Verstappen would leave Croft exasperated during the session. Soon after there was a later, shorter red flag and when the session resumed there were more shenanigans in the pit lane.

This time, the Dutchman was in no mood to wait around for others. He very aggressively pushed his way past George Russell and Lewis Hamilton at the pit lane exit, narrowly avoiding contact with the latter, before zooming beyond Pierre Gasly.

Verstappen complained over the radio that he was being blocked before he was eventually able to head out on track and find some free air. Watching it unfold, Croft was again critical of the Red Bull racer's impatience.

He said: "It's a bit cheeky that, to be fair. Now what he's trying to do is get past Pierre Gasly. Max, calm down. There's no need for that, I don't think. It's just silly, I don't see the need for it."

The main loss of time during the disrupted session had been caused by a crash for Carlos Sainz just eight minutes in. The Spaniard lost control of his Ferrari after getting into the dirty air of a car moving slowly ahead of him and going over a bump on the track, making him lose control.

It took more than 20 minutes for the barriers to be repaired before the session could resume. And several more minutes were lost when Nico Hulkenberg span and crashed his Haas, though this time causing less damage to the barriers and to his car.

Daniel Moxon