The opening practice session of the Formula 1 weekend at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace Interlagos brought familiar radio drama from the reigning world champion. Max Verstappen finished the session in third place, just over two tenths behind his primary rival, Lando Norris, who is testing upgraded aerodynamic packages on his McLaren.
Despite showing promising outright pace on the Brazilian circuit, the star driver for Red Bull Racing expressed frustration with the handling feel of his RB22 chassis. Throughout Friday afternoon's running, a recurring complaint echoed across the team radio concerning less-than-ideal downshift behavior.
"Unacceptable man. Unacceptable, these downshifts. What the f***!," Verstappen vented to race engineer Tom Hart, who is stepping in for Gianpiero Lambiase this weekend. The downshift issue goes beyond simple mechanical preference, directly destabilizing the rear end of the car under heavy braking zones.
Addressing his sharp radio exchanges, the Dutch driver emphasized that his demanding feedback stems purely from relentless perfectionism aimed at keeping the engineering crew fully motivated to extract every fraction of lap time.
"With the shifts or whatever that you hear me complain about, it's just because I'm never satisfied, because I think certain things can always be better," Verstappen explained.
"I always try to fine-tune or find improvements. So, if you hear it as complaining or whatever, it's more for me to make sure that the team is always looking into the details to try and find more lap time because I know there is more lap time in it."
Alongside the transmission woes, the opening session also featured heavy steering resistance, prompting lighthearted remarks from the world champion about enduring an unexpected workout inside the cockpit.
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