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Red Bull star Max Verstappen raged at Alpine driver Pierre Gasly during the FP1 session at the 2025 Qatar GP when the French driver hugged the inside line as the Dutchman came around. Verstappen, who was on the radio discussing brake balance with GP, then let out a furious radio message about Gasly.
Max Verstappen came into the 2025 Qatar GP just 24 points behind Lando Norris in the championship following the double McLaren disqualification at the Las Vegas GP. With Qatar being a sprint race weekend, the Friday FP1 becomes the only practice session, making every lap that much more crucial.
The Lusail International Circuit is extraordinarily demanding on the car and the drivers, given the high-speed nature, and any blocking or impeding generally leads to a furious response. The same happened with Max Verstappen at the FP1 session, just a quarter of the way into the session.
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The Dutchman was on a cooldown lap and on the radio with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase (GP), discussing brake balance and steering issues when Pierre Gasly hugged the apex of the corner into the fastest section of Turn 2 and Turn 3.
Max Verstappen had to take avoiding actions and overtake around the outside of a slow Gasly, which led to the Red Bull driver calling the Alpine driver an idiot. Verstappen team radio read,
“Oh my god mate! Who's this blind idiot”.
Max Verstappen went on to start another flying lap after the Gasly encounter and provisionally set the fastest lap before George Russell improved. Verstappen's first stint was on the hard tires, and he had a troublesome stint on them.
The Lusail International Circuit is a wide track, but the fast flowing nature means getting off the racing line breaks the rhythm through multiple corners.
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc’s complaints about the steering wheel during the F1 Qatar GP Practice
With Pirelli mandating no more than 25 laps on a set of tires at the Qatar GP, all the drivers opted for the hard tires for the first run in FP1. Max Verstappen took to the team radio after a few laps and complained about the front left tire performance going away.
Just a few laps later, the Dutchman again took to the team radio and complained to GP about the steering wheel not feeling right, as he said,
“Ah, the steering wheel really feels weird suddenly. I don't know what it is”.
A few minutes after Verstappen's steering wheel complaints, Charles Leclerc also took to the team radio and complained to his race engineer, Bryan Bozzi, about the feedback from the steering wheel.
While Verstappen was fast on the hard tires, he struggled during the qualifying runs on the soft tires and was over half a second slower than the McLaren drivers who topped the session.
