Max Verstappen says technical issues with Red Bull's team radio are "a disaster" after he struggled to communicate with his engineer for a second successive race. On his way to finishing third in Sunday's United States Grand Prix, Verstappen was trying to let the Red Bull pit wall know he was suffering from engine braking issues. When his engineer attempted to offer him advice by suggesting a change of mode, Verstappen said that he couldn't hear him properly.
The issue appeared to be similar to the one Verstappen suffered two weeks earlier when he and the pit wall were forced to improvise their communication methods during his win in Singapore. Speaking after Sunday's race in Austin, Verstappen said: "It's not the second time. It's already, I don't know how many times this year.
"Maybe we should just start communicating in sign language. It's probably cheaper as well. It's really frustrating, to be honest." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Verstappen and his team-mate Isack Hadjar were both also frustrated with another race where they both made poor starts.
The Dutchman was overtaken by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the opening lap after being left vulnerable from a poor start, while Hadjar was cleared by both Leclerc and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen told Sky Sports F1: "Just the same always at the start, the problem we have." Hadjar went into more detail, telling Sky Sports F1: "My race start was… I do everything perfect in terms of procedure and I have clutch over delivery. These things are out of my control.
"I have poor radio coverage, can't hear what's happening, can't hear what's happening in the pits. I leave the pits with the wrong map, then I lose a second every lap on that hard tyre. It's not coping well with temperatures.
It's a real struggle." Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said the radio issue was "making everyone's lives very difficult" within the Milton Keynes squad. "We are all frustrated to struggle for the second race in a row with the radio issues," Mekies said. "It's making everyone's lives very difficult.
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