Seabstian Vettel was livid in the closing stages of the Mexican Grand Prix after Max Verstappen refused to give up third place late in the race.
Verstappen locked up and ran deep into Turn 1 three laps from the end as Vettel hassled him for third, but refused to move over and let the Ferrari driver through despite being advised to do so by Red Bull. Vettel could not understand why the 19-year-old refused to move over, with a radio meltdown for the ages unfolding as follows:
Vettel: "Move, move for f---s sake. He's a [censored], that's what he is"
Vettel: "I mean, am I the only one or are you not seeing what I'm seeing!? He's just backing me off into Ricciardo [censored]."
Being bottled behind Verstappen for that long meant Daniel Ricciardo, also on fresher tyres, closed in on Vettel, lunging down the inside at Turn 4 on the penultimate lap. Vettel defended staunchly under pressure and the pair made contact, though Vettel held on to the position.
Vettel: "Honestly, I'm going to hit someone I think I have a puncture, rear left."
Race engineer Riccardo Adami: "Tyres are fine, tyres are fine."
As he crossed the line, Ferrari tried to calm the German down again, only for Vettel to launch into an astonishing rant about FIA race director Charlie Whiting, who was about to issue Verstappen a penalty. ...
Ricciardo Adami: "Charlie said... Charlie said..."
Vettel: "You know what, here's the message to Charlie: f--k off! Honestly f--k off."
Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene then stepped in to calm Vettel down.
Vettel: "He has to give me the position. End of the story."
Arrivabene: "Sebastian, Sebastian, calm down, calm down. They are under investigation. I know that it is not fair but calm down. Put your head down and we talk afterwards."
Vettel: "OK, copy Maurizio."
Vettel would soon find out Verstappen had indeed been handed a five-second penalty, promoting Vettel and Ricciardo up a position. Verstappen later suggested Vettel "go back to school" for language classes after hearing about the radio messages above.