Verstappen blasted for ‘lack of grace’ and “skipping team meeting”

After suffering a driveshaft failure in qualifying, Verstappen recovered from 15th on the grid to take second place and the fastest lap at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, a result that keeps him one point ahead of Red Bull teammate and race-winner Sergio Perez in the championship standings. 

Verstappen was critical of Red Bull’s reliability problems after both qualifying and the race, something which unimpressed 2016 world champion and Sky Sports pundit Rosberg, who claimed the Dutchman had missed a team meeting on Saturday. 

"It is not good to see,” Rosberg told Sky. “We were also told he skipped the team meeting [on Saturday] apparently.

"I don't think it's a good approach or mentality so early in the season when the team has done such a brilliant job and worked so hard. I think he could be more gracious.”

Despite retaining his early championship lead, Verstappen, who reported further driveshaft concerns after experiencing vibrations at high-speed during Sunday's race, said Red Bull needed to get on top of their niggles. 

"I recovered to second which is good and in general the whole feeling in the team is happy,” he said. 

"But personally I am not happy. I am not here to be second, especially when you are working very hard back at the factory to come here in a good state and making sure everything is spot on.

"When you are fighting for a championship and it looks like it is just between two cars you have to make sure the two cars are reliable. We have to do better, absolutely - a cleaner weekend would be nice.

"We are allowed to race so the best man will finish in front."