Max Verstappen insists team radio outbursts do not impact his performance

The world champion often relays his frustrations on his team radio to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase

(AFP via Getty Images)

Max Verstappen insists his team radio outbursts do not impact his performance after Red Bull confirmed they have hired a psychologist to help Yuki Tsunoda.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko confirmed this week that AlphaTauri driver Tsunoda will receive help to control his “rants in the corners” on team radio with the Japanese driver having vented his frustrations explicitly so far this season.

Speaking before this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Championship leader Verstappen - who often relays his frustrations on his team radio to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase - confirmed he has not got plans to use the psychologist and downplayed his own radio outbursts, instead saying “if the day comes that I’m not going to be upset... then I’m not interested in the sport anymore.”

“No I didn’t work with anyone - over the years, you look back at what you can do better,” Verstappen said. “I sometimes get a bit upset on the radio. I don’t think it influences my performance.

“It’s more about if things don’t go well, if something is badly executed, or if I have a problem. I think if the day comes that I’m not going to be upset about these things anymore, then I’m not interested in the sport anymore.

“For me, it’s also because I care about my result and I care about what I’m delivering at the weekend that I sometimes get upset about these things, but it’s not influencing my performance.”

Marko insisted that 22-year-old Tsunoda - in his second season in F1 - needs to learn to “keep his emotions in check” whilst out on the track.

“We have organised a kind of psychologist to work with him, because he continued to rant in the corners, so that inhibits performance,” Marko said, as reported by Motorsport.com.

“We should keep our emotions in check. Thank God Max is calm, our problem child in this respect, not only in this respect, is Tsunoda. He explodes on the radio, you wouldn’t believe it.”

Verstappen, who won at the Red Bull Ring last year, currently has a 34-point lead in the World Championship to team-mate Sergio Perez heading into round 11 of this season.