24 November 2023 , 16:06
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Max Verstappen responded to criticism for his pit lane antics during Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice by blaming his Formula 1 rivals for being "slow".
FP2 at the Yas Marina Circuit was a much-disrupted session with two red flags causing more than half of the full hour to be lost. The first stoppage was particularly lengthy after Carlos Sainz lost control of his Ferrari and smashed into the barrier.
When the session eventually resumed, Verstappen complained over the radio about how cars were pushing in at the end of the pit lane. And so, after a second, more brief stoppage, he seemed to make it his personal mission to not let it happen again.
TV cameras showed the Dutchman fly past George Russell at the end of the pit lane before having to brake sharply to avoid hitting Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion did not rush to move to the left to allow his rival past.
Eventually, Verstappen moved through and then was blocked again by Pierre Gasly. Once he was around the Alpine he roared onto the track. The incident caught the eyes of viewers and the Red Bull racer was asked about it after the session.
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He was unapologetic and blamed his rivals for being too slow. "I mean, they have to move," he said. "They are all driving slow, and I want to go out because we are limited on time, and they just keep on driving in the middle. Then, when I tried to pass, they tried to squeeze me in the wall. So yeah... a bit silly."
The scenes incidents involving Verstappen in the pit lane were shown live on the Sky Sports TV feed. Commentator David Croft watched both the pushing-in incident after the first red flag and the moment Verstappen flew past his rivals following the second, and was left unimpressed by both.
"Ah yeah, lovely, well done there," moaned Verstappen over the radio after Alex Albon pushed in, before asking his race engineer: "Can you please report that?" Croft's immediate response was to laugh and clap back: "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!"
And later, after watching Verstappen muscle his way through the pit lane, Croft was critical of his impatience. He said on the broadcast: "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."
Verstappen was third quickest overall in the incident-hit session with all cars doing much less running than they would have liked. Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets for Ferrari while it was Lando Norris who split Leclerc from Verstappen with a tidy lap in his McLaren.