MAX VERSTAPPEN DELIVERS 'BAD NEWS' FOR F1 RIVALS WITH RADIO MESSAGE AT SPANISH GRAND PRIX

Max Verstappen will be looking to stretch his lead at the top of the F1 Drivers' Championship standings at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend after winning four of the opening six races this season. And the Red Bull star's behaviour during Friday's second practice session is apparently "bad news" for his rivals.

Verstappen set an expeditious pace during FP1 as he finished fastest out of all the drivers and then backed that up by topping the timesheet once again in FP2. And he illustrated just how relaxed he was during the first day of racing in Spain by jesting over the team radio.

"In FP1, Max Verstappen [was] just stamping his authority on the weekend out of the box," journalist and ex-F1 team and sponsorship manager Peter Windsor said on his YouTube channel. "Quickest on soft tyres, medium tyres, the test tyre from Pirelli. Every time he went out he was fastest - about three-tenths minimum to Sergio Perez, let alone to the rest of the field. Looks superb. Didn't have any issues apart from a bit of bouncing.

"[In FP2] Max was relaxed, confident as you would expect him to be. At one point, there was a radio message, I think it was about the weather, something like that. In the background of the radio whilst he was driving around he could hear a mobile phone ringing and he said, 'I think that's Helmut's [Marko] phone, is someone going to get that for him?' When world champions, when racing drivers start talking like that and start showing how relaxed they are, it's bad news for everyone else."

Verstappen has won back-to-back F1 world titles after pipping Lewis Hamilton to the trophy in 2021, before utterly dominating his rivals in 2022.

And he already looks to be on course to win a third title this year after moving 39 points clear of his Red Bull team-mate Perez at the top of the standings courtesy of victory at last month's Monaco Grand Prix.

Verstappen's performances during the Spanish Grand Prix practice sessions indicate he will take some beating in Barcelona. And following FP2, the 25-year-old Dutchman said: "Overall I think we had a very good day.

"The car was in a good window and of course you try to fine tune a few things here and there but short run, long run everything looked quite good. From my side I felt very comfortable in the car, looking after the car. From our side it was a good day. This track has been resurfaced a few years ago and it's still quite decent."

2023-06-03T11:12:00Z dg43tfdfdgfd