Untelevised Max Verstappen radio reveals Russell yellow flag quip

Max Verstappen joked to race engineer GianPiero Lambiase that a yellow flag zone meant it was “flat-out” for him on the start-finish straight.

This message was likely in response to George Russell taking pole position shortly after Verstappen‘s high-speed crash in Austrian Grand Prix Q3 on Saturday, despite a single yellow flag being shown.

Untelevised Max Verstappen radio reveals ‘flat out’ yellow flag joke

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Opinions had been split online about Russell keeping pole but, as his data showed, he did lift 100 metres earlier towards the high-speed Turn 9, though was cleverly able to maintain momentum as he came to the end of his lap, taking pole by two tenths.

PlanetF1.com data analyst, Uros Radovanovic, estimated Russell’s time loss to be around 0.08s when his lift was taken into account, but given the stewards had seen a significant lift off the throttle pedal – and his lap taking place just before double-yellows were shown – Russell was able to keep his pole position.

Carlos Sainz pulled over on the pit straight for Williams in the middle of the Austrian Grand Prix, prompting a Virtual Safety Car period while his car was moved to safety off-track.

When told about the yellow flags by Lambiase, the following radio exchange took place:

Lambiase: “Yellow [at] Turn 10, double yellows across the start/finish line. Yellow here and double yellows.”

In response, Verstappen quipped: “That means flat-out, right? Past the car?”, before quickly clarifying: “I’m joking.”

The four-time world champion climbed from fifth to second in Sunday’s race, closing in on Russell in the latter stages as he looked to mount a challenge for the win.

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While he never got close enough to do so, it was still a season-best result for the Red Bull driver, after the team brought significant upgrades to the RB22.

“To be that close to a win, I think, is a great effort from the team,” he said after the race.

“They have worked really hard to get these upgrades on the car here, and this is the first time, I think, in the race where I felt like really competitive, and I could push a bit more, so that is definitely the positive, I think, of this weekend.”

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