Max Verstappen tells English media to 'just shut up' amid budget cap investigation

Max Verstappen has dismissed Red Bull's budget cap scandal as the usual noise from intense rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.

The reigning world champion is on the cusp of wrapping up his second consecutive drivers' title in Singapore, says he is not worried about being stripped of his crowns.

The Dutchman is quoted by De Telegraaf: What I hear from the team is that everything was done correctly. I don't value it. I know where it comes from and which people are complaining about it."

Verstappen, who turned 25 on Friday, even said he is not surprised that many members of the media are declaring that the saga could cost him his titles.

"Yes, especially in England I am not surprised," he said: "But I have no fear of it. It is the other teams talking when they cannot have all the information. I think that's a bit stupid. What do I think? Just shut up."

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Worsening matters

To make the situation worse, Verstappen could not hide his fury with his own team after qualifying. He says it was "unacceptable" that his engineer called off his final fast lap because of a lack of fuel for the mandatory one litre sample.

"We had only refuelled for five laps," Dr Helmut Marko explained. "If we hadn't come in, they would have disqualified us.

"Things like that can happen - it's not just Ferrari," he joked. "But here, of course, it is doubly bitter."

READ: 'Box, Max! Box, box, box!' - How a rare Red Bull mistake cost Verstappen pole in Singapore

He admitted that Verstappen would have trouble scything through the field to charge for victory from eighth on the grid.

"It won't be possible to catch up like we did in Hungary," Marko said.

Verstappen agrees with that.

"I