F1 World Champion Max Verstappen has pounced on an opportunity to make a cruel jibe at the Aston Martin safety car.
It’s fair to say the British team haven’t had the greatest start to the season. They currently find themselves at rock bottom of the table and have failed to even pick up a singular point. Even four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel has struggled to help them up the table. In the Australian Grand Prix, the driver’s car shockingly broke down and resulted in him failing to complete the race.
And if the morale among the team wasn’t already bad enough, things have just got a whole lot worse. Verstappen, who’s now dropped into sixth place in the table after retiring from the race, has released a stunning tirade against their safety car.
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Max Verstappen lays into Aston Martin
This is the second DNF the 24-year-old’s suffered this season. He had to exit his car after the vehicle started smoking. In a brutal rant, the Belgian compared the Aston Martin safety car to a ‘turtle’ due to its lack of pace.
In an interview with The Race, Verstappen said: “It’s just that there’s so little grip because the safety car was driving so slowly. It was like a turtle. Unbelievable. With that car, to drive 140km/h on the back straight where that was not a damaged car anymore, I don’t understand why we have to drive so slowly.”
He continued: “We have to investigate. For sure, the Mercedes[-AMG GT Black Series] safety car is faster because of the extra aero. The Aston Martin is really slow. It definitely needs more grip because our tyres were stone cold.
“We went into the last corner, and I could see Charles understeering, so I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll back off a bit more and get a better line.’ But it’s pretty terrible, the way we are driving behind the safety car at the moment.”
A capacity crowd descended on Albert Park, Melbourne, to watch the first Grand Prix at the venue in 1100 days. They were treated to a spectacular event where Charles Leclerc ultimately came out victorious to strengthen his championship lead.
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