Martin Brundle calls out Max Verstappen over temper tantrums - 'Still on a short fuse'

Max Verstappen's temper is 'still on a short fuse', according to Martin Brundle, who feels the Red Bull driver has some work to do to control his anger. Verstappen moved above Charles Leclerc to the top of the Drivers' Championship at the weekend after his win in Barcelona.

It proved to be a testing drive for Verstappen as a spin into the gravel trap at Turn 4 on lap 9 dropped him down to fourth and behind George Russell. The young Brit, driving in a much improved Mercedes, was keeping Verstappen at bay with some strong defence while the reigning F1 world champion had no DRS to make an overtake.

Verstappen pitted after eventually making his move on Russell with Leclerc then forced to retire from the race with a power unit issue. Red Bull then sensed another one-two opportunity and instructed Sergio Perez to allow Verstappen through on lap 49, with the Dutchman going unchallenged at the front for the remainder of the race.

Verstappen was clearly delighted after the race as he stood upon the podium, but he sent a number of frantic radio messages to the pit wall during the Grand Prix. When the DRS was not working, Verstappen went on an expletive rant calling out the team's engineers.

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He said: "Where is the f****** DRS! You can't even make a f****** DRS!"

Brundle feels as though Red Bull's reliability issues this season have played into Verstappen's anger at several race weekends. And the Sky Sports pundit also believes the 24-year-old hasn't fully tempered his 'short fuse' from earlier in his career.

"Max's 24th victory, matching the great Fangio, wasn't his finest, partly due to a malfunctioning DRS rear wing flap, also a trip through the turn 4