Kieran is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs and feature content across the F1 calendar. An NQJ-qualified journalist with more than a decade of experience, he has previously written for publications including MailOnline, the Manchester Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press.
Max Verstappen let out a deep sigh in the cooldown room after the United States Grand Prix when race winner Kimi Antonelli brought up Red Bull's problems in Austin. The moment came at the end of a race in which the Dutchman had repeatedly voiced his unhappiness over the radio.
The four-time world champion joined Antonelli and runner-up Charles Leclerc in the cooldown room, where the three podium finishers watched footage of the Grand Prix. When Antonelli pointed to Red Bull's struggles, the four-time world champion delivered a big sigh, clearly showing his frustrations.
In the cooldown room, Antonelli asked Verstappen: "You struggled at the start with boost, no?" To which the Dutchman, after clarifying whether Antonelli meant at the launch, sighed yes.
Antonelli added that Verstappen "bogged down massively", with Verstappen replying "yeah, yeah" before giving out another big sigh moments later.
The energy in the room though did lift again when Leclerc told Antonelli that it would be in Mexico where the Italian can win the championship, to which Verstappen chimed in with a call of "Tequila".
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Verstappen started from second on the grid but could not stay with Antonelli's pace after a difficult start in which he lost ground losing a position to Leclerc and having to repass the Monegasque driver for second. However, he ultimately lost out in the fight for second place to Leclerc, as the Ferrari driver made advantage of fresher tyres in the final stint of the race.
Verstappen's sigh followed a race full of complaints
During the race, Verstappen told his team over the radio that he was unhappy with the pit stop, the tyre choice and the lack of speed.
“I’ve had more enjoyable races,” Verstappen told Viaplay after the race. “Not a lot went right, really. The start wasn’t good. The tyre choice, and the way we did it—soft, soft and then medium—hadn’t been agreed upon beforehand. So I don’t quite understand what that was about,” he said.
Verstappen was particularly puzzled by the decision to put a second batch of softs on when he made an early pitstop on Lap 14. “That hadn’t been agreed upon either,” he revealed. “I mean, then everyone immediately knows you’re doing a two-stop strategy,” he sighed.
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Asked whether he had expected medium tyres at that stop, Verstappen confirmed that he had. “We need to talk about that. I have no idea why that happened. I couldn’t get them [the hard tyres] on at all,” Verstappen said.
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