Max Verstappen attacked race engineer Ginpiareo Lambiase in a rowdy struggle after dodging Lando Norris in FP3. Norris nearly collided with Verstappen at the exit of turn five as the pair struggled for space in the tight first sector.
The McLaren star was on a hot lap while Verstappen was in the middle of the track for a quiet lap. Norris had to give up his run and ease off the throttle, but Verstappen was furious with Lambiasi.
The hosts referred to the incident and there were fears Vertzappen had been awarded a penalty just hours before the qualifiers. He complained on the radio: “Dude! *********”.
Lambiasi quickly apologised, while Verstappen raced to pass Norris again. As the Brit passed, Vertsaappen raised his hand, acknowledging his mistake.
Norris was also not happy about the near miss and warned race engineer Will Joseph how close he was to a key shunt. He said, “It’s dangerous what these guys are doing, they need to use the radio or something, it would have been a massive crash.”
Joseph simply replied, “Okay, I see.” The race stewards eventually dropped the investigation meaning neither driver would suffer penalties.
