Max Verstappen had every right to disappointed by his retirement from Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, but the Red Bull driver says his abusive language went too far.
The Dutchman was charging in the opening laps of the race, desperate to remain in the wake of the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers when an MGU-K failure killed the power of his Renault power unit.
"Can I not just keep going? " said a dejected Verstappen.
"I don't care if this f***ing engine blows up... What a f***ing joke, all the f***ing time. Honestly. Argh!"
On Monday, Verstappen took to Instagram to express his regrets over the expletive-laden outburst, saying it was heat of the moment burst of rage.
"Looking back on yesterday the disappointment is still there," he wrote;
"However, I should not have used the words I did in the heat of the moment. Emotions were running high after a good start to the race.
"These frustrations came for a reason, after another unexpected engine failure which have been happening too often over the past few years.
"We came to Budapest with high expectations and not being able to be competitive made it hard to swallow for us. I will go into the summer break hoping we will be back stronger after it."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner added fuel to the fire after Verstappen was sidelined, criticizing Renault supplying a product worthy of the millions the team is paying. That reaction was met with contempt by Renault's Cyril Abiteboul who admitted to be fed up with Red Bull's grievances.
"Our bosses have stopped reading what Christian Horner is saying about us since 2015," he said.
"It's very clear that we don't want to have any dealings with them any more. It's very clear it's done."
Definitely an odd view on customer service from the Frenchman.
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