Verstappen - critics wrong for perceiving me as angry

Max Verstappen is adamant he is far from the angry character many people perceive him to be.

The Red Bull driver has been prone to outbursts over the team radio throughout his career, notably in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix this year when he complained about the steering, and especially during the Spanish GP when he bemoaned the failure of his DRS.

Even Christian Horner described Verstappen's response to the issue as "road rage", albeit the team principal felt it was understandable given the circumstances.

Speaking to this writer in an interview with The New York Times, asked to describe his personality, Verstappen replied: "People might think differently, but I'm actually quite calm.

"I don't really get upset with many things. It just doesn't bother me. I know what I have to do here [in F1], and that's trying to drive as fast as I can on track.

"When I go home, I also want to do other things, but it doesn't take a lot of energy for me to keep switching between the two, because I do find what I do is super important but it's not the end of the world if it doesn't really work out.

"That's how I've always seen it, but I know that once I jump in the car, I will always try to get the best out of myself, and also out of the team."

Reminded of his anger over the radio this season, Verstappen said: "Yeah, because I'm upset that things are not going right.

"For me, that's not even actually being angry. That's maybe how other people perceive me being upset, but I think me being really upset, that happens very, very rarely."

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