Max Verstappen sparks drama with team order refusal - On This Day

Eleven years ago today, on 20 September 2015, a 17-year-old Max Verstappen delivered one of the most memorable radio transmissions in Formula 1 history. 

It was a single word, barked without hesitation, and it told the paddock everything it needed to know about the teenager from Hasselt.

Sebastian Vettel dominated that evening under the lights of Marina Bay, cruising to victory ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen, but the story that lingered long after the chequered flag came from the midfield battle at Toro Rosso. 

Verstappen had stalled on the formation lap, started from the pit lane, and clawed his way back into the points with a drive of remarkable composure for a driver not yet old enough to hold a regular road licence. 

By the closing stages, he sat eighth, hunting Sergio Perez's Force India, with team-mate Carlos Sainz on fresher super-soft tyres right behind.

Toro Rosso saw an opportunity. Sainz, they reasoned, might have the tyre advantage to attack Perez. The instruction crackled over the radio: swap positions.

"No!” was Verstappen's clear-cut reply.

The team tried again, and again, but Verstappen would not budge. He held eighth, Sainz finished ninth, and the matter, on track at least, was settled.

Afterwards, Verstappen was unapologetic. 

"If you're one lap down and you manage to be back in the points as the leading Toro Rosso, then for me there is no reason to switch positions," he said. 

Then came the punchline about his father, Jos: "He told me if I had let him past he would have kicked me in the nuts!"

Full radio exhange

Below, you can see what was said over the team radio between Verstappen and his race engineer, Xevi Pujolar.

Pujolar: Use scenario plus. Need to get him now.

Verstappen: Is the next lap the last lap?

XP: That’s your last chance.

XP: The race is still not over and we will have to swap positions. Two more laps.

XP: We need to swap positions.

MV: No.

XP: Max just do it.

XP: OK Max you need to let him go now. Slow off, please. He needs to have a go. There will be one more lap to go and Carlos needs a chance to overtake Perez.

XP OK to go and push on Perez, push on Perez one more lap.