‘Act like a world champion’: Lewis Hamilton blasts Max Verstappen over X-rated radio rants

Lewis Hamilton has accused Max Verstappen of not acting like a world champion after the Dutchman told his critics to “turn the volume down” if they do not like his language.

Verstappen, who is set to serve a 10-place grid penalty at Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix for exceeding his permitted engine parts, has faced a backlash after he turned the airwaves blue in Hungary last weekend.

He was involved in a number of feisty radio exchanges with his British-Italian race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and berated Red Bull’s strategy.

Verstappen, who collided with Hamilton in the closing stages, finished fifth.

Speaking in Spa-Francorchamps ahead of the sport’s concluding round before the four-week summer break, Hamilton was asked about his rival’s behaviour.

“As a team leader or a team member, you have to act like a world champion,” said Hamilton.

When asked to elaborate on what acting like a world champion means, Hamilton said: “Not like it was last weekend.”

For his part, Verstappen said he would not change his approach.

“People that don’t like my language, then don’t listen in,” he said. “Turn the volume down. I am very driven to succeed.

“People can argue that I might not be so vocal on the radio, but that is their opinion and my opinion is that it might have needed to have been said at the time.

“We are very open-minded and very critical to each other as a team and that has worked well, so I don’t expect that to change.

“It was quite clear that the strategy was wrong. I am very driven and I want to be perfect. If things are not going how they should be, it is quite normal to show your frustration.

“As a team we learn from it and move on. It is important that we can be critical. In this world, people cannot take criticism like it used to be and I don’t want to end up like that.”