Martin Brundle latest F1 legend slammed by Verstappens: ‘Idiot’ | F1 | Sport
Martin Brundle has been branded an “idiot” by Jos Verstappen, the Sky Sports F1 analyst becoming the latest in a growing line of respected Formula 1 figures targeted by the Verstappens in recent weeks and months. Brundle is one of the most respected people in the entire paddock but, clearly, that hasn’t spared him from Verstappen Snr’s wrath.
Jos appears to be angry with Brundle, against whom he used to race in F1, over comments made by the Brit during a live Sky Sports broadcast about the impact Max Verstappen and his father Jos have had when it comes to effecting senior staff changes at Red Bull Racing.
A year has passed since Christian Horner was ousted as team principal and chief executive officer, after many months of Jos publicly calling for him the be removed from the roles. Brundle also cited the departures of several other senior Red Bull figures, including the most recent departure of chief engineer Paul Monaghan who has joined Cadillac.
He said: “They wanted to torpedo the management of Red Bull, didn’t they? Team Verstappen did that very well indeed. To start with, Christian Horner, and it just carried on from there with Adrian Newey, Dr Helmut Marko and Jonathan Wheatley. Now we know Paul Monaghan is leaving. I think they did a bit too good a job of wanting to move some people out of the way there at Red Bull, did Team Verstappen.”
Those comments were shared on social media, prompting a response on Instagram by Verstappen Snr’s account which made it very clear what he thought of Brundle’s opinion. “Another idiot who thinks he knows what it’s like,” he commented.
It is the latest in a growing string of examples of the Verstappens publicly calling out people for comments made in punditry roles. Jos recently called out former F1 racer Ralf Schumacher for “bringing the wrong information” when reporting a lowball offer from Mercedes that was supposedly sent to Verstappen’s camp.
And Juan Pablo Montoya has been criticised by both Max and Jos after the Colombian advocated for drivers who mock F1 to be given harsh punishments. Montoya said he would give out penalty points to those who compared the sport to ‘Mario Kart’, and said he would treat Verstappen the same way when asked specifically about the Dutchman.
Max Verstappen responded to that by questioning why Montoya still gets invites to races from Formula One Management. Asked for his response to the Dutchman’s public criticism, he told our Pit Lane Torque podcast: “I don’t have anything against Max. I said I think the driver should get penalised. And I think if you go to any other sport and you bad-mouth a league or whatever, you’re in trouble.
“If you’re a Max fan, you’re going to say, ‘Well, Max put Montoya in his place with that’. And if you f***ing listen to it, I couldn’t really give two f***s about Max. I love Max, I think he’s an amazing driver. I don’t sugar-coat things, I tell it how it is. I don’t have anything against anybody on the grid. I really don’t.”
