Formula 1 commentator David Croft was far from impressed with Max Verstappen’s antics during the second practice session in Abu Dhabi on Friday afternoon.
Covering a truncated hour of practice at the Yas Marina circuit for Sky Sports F1, Croft didn’t entirely agree with the three-time world champion’s behaviour.
It’s been a fascinating day of practice sessions in Abu Dhabi for the final Grand Prix of the year.
In the opening hour, 10 rookies were given access to the track as they looked to impress their respective teams.
Felipe Drugovich finished top out of the temporary drivers, with the likes of Pato O’Ward and Jack Doohan also aiming to make a mark.
The second session was much more useful for the teams as it would be run at the same temperature as Saturday’s qualifying session and the race on Sunday.
However, a big crash for Carlos Sainz brought out the first red flag before Nico Hulkenberg paused the session for a second time when he hit the barriers coming out of turn one.
Max Verstappen was clearly frustrated with his lack of action in Abu Dhabi having not run in FP1, but David Croft didn’t like his conduct coming out of the pit lane.
He complained about a Williams car pushing ahead of him after the first restart and took matters into his own hands in the very tight tunnel the cars use to leave the pit lane on the second attempt.
Croft unimpressed with Verstappen in Abu Dhabi
As the lights in the pit lane went green, Verstappen tried to push his way past both Mercedes cars as they tried to return to the track.
Croft wasn’t a fan of what he saw and said: “It’s a bit cheeky that to be fair. And now what he’s trying to do is get past Pierre Gasly, there he goes, Max calm down.
“There’s no need for that I don’t think and then what he’s going to do now is find himself a gap out on track and what has happened in previous races as it has irked some teams, is that Max has kind of barged his way past the pit lane exit and then slowed down to build a gap.
“Which is not really in the spirit of what they’re meant to do. I think the stewards are going to have a look at this. It’s just silly that, I’m sorry. I don’t see the need for it.”
Plenty of other drivers will agree with Croft that Verstappen should have been more patient getting out of the Abu Dhabi pit lane with George Russell raising the issue over his team radio.
It’s not unusual for drivers to try and find space on track to set the best lap possible, but Verstappen’s impatience didn’t really help anyone.
It does show just how competitive he still is despite having nothing to play for this weekend.
However, you wouldn’t bet against him earning a 19th race victory of the season on Sunday afternoon.
