Max Verstappen argues with Red Bull in heated radio spat

Max Verstappen got into a heated spat with his Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race.

During a red flag period caused after Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto all crashed out, Verstappen argued with Lambiase as they discussed his struggles at Turn 1.

"The car is just dancing everywhere. Terrible. Can't keep up,” Verstappen reported.

His race engineer Lambiase replied: "We are going to get you through some recommendations at Turn 1, it looks poor.”

Verstappen then snapped back: “No, it's just wet. I have no grip. It's not the balance.”

To which, Lambiase retorted: "We are giving you recommendations so you avoid oversteering into the corner every lap Max, whether you take them or not is up to you.”

The four-time world champion finished fourth place in the Sao Paulo sprint as he lost ground to championship leader Lando Norris.

Norris won the race to extend his advantage at the top of the drivers’ standings to nine points over Piastri.

Verstappen is now 39 points adrift in third-place with four races still remaining this season.

Qualifying for Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix takes place at 6pm UK time.

“We will make some changes and hopefully that bring us in a better window and hopefully that will allow us to also then push a little bit better on the tyres and then we will see what happens," Verstappen said. 

“To be honest this was no-man’s land. I wasn’t really able to stay with the guys ahead. If we find a bit more then maybe I can fight a little bit more with Mercedes also.”