Brundle - Verstappen temper proves champion fed up with Red Bull problems

Martin Brundle believes Max Verstappen's "short fuse" temper proves he is "fed up" with Red Bull's persistent reliability problems this year.

Verstappen took victory at the Spanish Grand Prix and with it, the championship lead after overcoming a slide into the gravel and a DRS issue to make the most of title rival Charles Leclerc's retirement.

The reigning F1 world champion vented down his team radio during the race after the DRS malfunction halted his progress against George Russell's Mercedes in the opening half of the race.

It was the same issue that stopped his pole position challenge in its tracks on Saturday and follows two early-season retirements in Bahrain and Australia, as well as a hydraulic issue in practice for the Miami Grand Prix.

Red Bull has also seen gremlins hit Sergio Perez's car, with a retirement in Bahrain coupled with a near-miss in Miami where a power unit issue left the Mexican close to a DNF.

Writing in his Sky Sports column, Brundle said: "Max was clearly angry on the radio at his team when the DRS wouldn't work, which was hindering his passing of the ever-impressive Russell in the Mercedes.

"This tells us two things. He's rather fed up with a catalogue of reliability issues as the team have taken time to finesse and get their new car up to full speed, and down to the weight limit.

"Secondly, his temper still has a relatively short fuse, as we saw for example in the brake testing of Hamilton in Saudi Arabia last year, which he has otherwise learned to control well in his quest for victories and a first world championship."

Related

Sergio Perez

Red Bull announce HUGE Perez change for Brazilian GP

• Yesterday 20:57

Red Bull F1 News

Red Bull announce exclusive takeover ahead of Brazilian GP

• Yesterday 08:27
• 2