Like an old married couple

“Told you so”: Lambiase teases Max

Max Verstappen is probably doing a lot right, it's not for nothing that he leads the world championship with 77 points. Nevertheless, even a three-time Formula 1 world champion can be wrong from time to time, as he was forced to admit in Japan. Race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase gave him an "I told you so."

Background: During the Suzuka GP on Sunday, the Dutchman did not seem to be completely happy with the setting of the front wing. First the car understeered, later it oversteered, he told his race engineer over the radio. "One or two clicks less would be okay," said the Red Bull driver to Lambiase.

Gianpiero Lambiase(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Mark Thompson)

"I was wrong"
The latter could not resist a side blow against Verstappen. "I don't want to say I told you so, but - got it, thanks," was the reaction of the Italian-British dual national. The 26-year-old himself also had to admit after the race, which he ultimately won comfortably ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez: "It's quite simple. GP was right, I was wrong about the wing setting."

Lambiase's interesting tone towards Verstappen on the radio has become legendary. The relationship between the two is based on deep mutual understanding, as they have repeatedly made clear. "If GP ever left Formula 1, I would quit a day later," the Formula 1 dominator once said - albeit only jokingly ...