Max Verstappen makes damning Lewis Hamilton claim on team radio during Italian Grand Prix

Max Vestappen’s complaints about Lewis Hamilton were heard on his team radio.
Max Verstappen demanded punishment for Lewis Hamilton early on in the Italian Grand Prix.

After dominating Formula One, Verstappen has struggled of late and failed to finish in pole position in his last five races going into this event.

And he was left frustrated in Monza, where he had to settle for sixth place following on from a poor qualifying performance.At one point, the four-time world champion was heard complaining about rival Hamilton on his team radio.

The Red Bull driver was speaking to his team and suggested the Mercedes star receive a penalty – feeling as though he didn’t leave enough room when Verstappen tried to pass him heading towards Turn 1.

The Dutchman brought up the fact that he did get a penalty in a similar situation.

“Lewis didn’t leave a car’s width,” Verstappen said, as heard by Sky Sport viewers.

“I mean, I got a penalty for that.. so…”

Verstappen finished behind Hamilton and he lost his cool at a different point in the race, appearing to punch his steering wheel after a 6.2 second pitstop.

Although he is still clear at the top of the driver’s rankings, 62 points ahead of Lando Norris, Verstappen’s last win was the Spanish Grand Prix back in June.

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was the victor in Monza, with Oscar Piastri coming second and Norris completing the podium.

Verstappen’s Red Bull colleague Sergio Perez was down in eighth position as the energy drink company’s racing team continue to struggle.

“I think there’s something that clearly isn’t working on the car,” Team Principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports prior to the Monza event.

“We’re trying to unravel that and understand. First of all you’ve got to understand the problem, then understand how to address it, and then implement it. There’ll be an engineering solution to an engineering problem.

“Q2, it didn’t look too bad. Still had the handling characteristics that Max has been talking about but in Q3 there’s something I missed – the others can all improve on new tyres but we were miles away.

“We need to address it quickly. We can see the McLarens have made a significant step over the last few races and we’re now behind Ferrari and Mercedes here as well, so a lot to do.”