Max Verstappen tensions boil over in heated radio exchange with race engineer

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen tensions boil over in heated radio exchange with race engineer

Max Verstappen has picked up just eight points this season

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 18 March 2026 23:00

Max Verstappen cut a visibly frustrated figure during the Chinese Grand Prix, with his irritation over Red Bull’s current package spilling over in conversations with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

The reigning champion has struggled to hide his dissatisfaction in the early stages of the season, repeatedly criticizing the new regulations. Verstappen has suggested the changes have taken away some of the enjoyment of driving, even likening aspects of the racing to a video game.

Meanwhile, Toto Wolff has suggested that Verstappen’s complaints may stem from Red Bull’s inability to fully get on top of the new rules, with the team currently appearing to be locked in a tighter fight further down the order than usual.

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Indeed, Verstappen has only picked up eight points from the first two race weekends, and is already 43 points behind early championship leader George Russell. The Dutchman has experienced one DNF already this year, while team-mate Isack Hadjar also had to retire from the Australian GP after a problem with the new Red Bull power unit.

And during the Chinese GP, Verstappen's frustrations towards his RB22 exploded into a barrage of fire at his long-suffering race engineer Lambiase. Near the beginning of the race after another poor start, Verstappen said: "I have never driven a car that is as difficult to handle as this one; I am losing a ridiculous amount of time."

Verstappen's race eventually came to an end on lap 46 when he was already a lap behind the leaders, after an issue with the energy recovery system (ERS).

Red Bull's disastrous new era

The heated discussion between Verstappen and Lambiase points to the immense frustration that the team are feeling since starting their new era of power unit production.

For the first ever time, both Red Bull and their sister team Racing Bulls are using power units that have been created in-house by Red Bull in partnership with Ford.

While the early signs for the new era were good during pre-season testing, Red Bull have been blighted by reliability issues so far in the 2026 season, as well as an RB22 car design that seems to be less than optimal.

Following sprint qualifying at the Chinese GP, pundit Chris Medland revealed on the F1TV live broadcast that Red Bull's problems went a lot deeper than their power unit.

"They said they were really struggling in the medium-speed sections," Medland said. "That covers the entire first and second sectors.

"So the power unit isn’t the problem. The car simply doesn’t work in medium-speed corners, so they just can’t get the speed out of it."

Team principal Laurent Mekies has a huge job on his hands to try and turn Red Bull into a podium-challenging entity as the 2026 season progresses.

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Chinese Grand Prix Gianpiero Lambiase