Max Verstappen has told his online critics to “eff off” and admitted he could face a grid penalty at this weekend's US Grand Prix in Austin. The Red Bull driver spoke out after defending his GT World Challenge Europe teammate Chris Lulham, who received a wave of online abuse following a racing error at Portimao.
Verstappen defends teammate after online abuse
Lulham was battling for victory alongside Verstappen and British driver Ben Barnicoat when he was handed a drive-through penalty. The team ultimately finished ninth. After seeing the abuse directed at his colleague, Verstappen issued a statement on social media condemning the “personal attacks” aimed at Lulham.
Speaking about the incident, Verstappen said: “No, but that starts already with the social media companies themselves, where you can make as many troll accounts as well, with no real names or addresses attached to them.” He added: “Yeah, people can say whatever they like online. I mean, for me personally, I don’t care, like, if it’s targeted at me, I mean, they can all eff off. But when it’s to one of my drivers who is young and is not used to this kind of pressure and attention, when they start writing these kinds of things, it’s quite extreme, and that’s why I felt the need to put that statement out.”
Grid penalty prospect
Verstappen has already used five of the six permitted power unit ancillary components, meaning a penalty is expected soon. When asked about it, he said: “That we have to take a penalty at one point, yeah, potentially. But there's no known date to that at the moment. So we just see what happens.”
On Lulham's character, Verstappen said: “Even though, of course, I’ve talked to him about it, and I try to make sure that he doesn’t really read about it too much, and I know his character. I think he’s quite relaxed, but it’s still not nice and definitely not deserved because he’s, first of all, just a great guy.” He added: “He’s, of course, learning. We’re all learning. We all make mistakes. That’s also not a problem for me, right? He did such a great job all weekend, and then a tiny little misjudgment. Of course, yeah, it gave us a penalty, but there is no need to throw any kind of hate towards him. I think that’s why it was just very important to make that statement.”
