Max Verstappen lost his temper after being asked to push hard towards the end of a rain-soaked final practice session in Barcelona on Saturday.
A few spots of rain fell during FP2 on Friday but those sessions stayed largely dry. The heavens opened on Saturday morning, though, meaning limited running for all the drivers ahead of what could be a qualifying session fraught with danger if the rainclouds don't clear up.
FP3 started dry but was red flagged when Logan Sargeant lost control of his Williams on the final corner and buried it into the barrier. By the time the green lights were flashing again, the rain was falling and everyone was waiting in the garage in the hope the conditions would get better.
Lando Norris was the first to brave the circuit on intermediate tyres and, eventually, many of the rest began to follow. Verstappen took the opportunity to get a few more laps under his belt, but appeared unimpressed when his Red Bull team suggested he try to go a little faster.
The Dutchman reported over the radio: "I don't really feel comfortable pushing in these conditions, I think it's a waste." Clearly, he was mindful of the fact that he has more to lose than the others on track if he were to lose control and crash just a couple of hours before qualifying.
The reply from his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was: "Everyone else is pushing, but just let us know." This irritated Verstappen, who snapped back: "Yeah but mate I don't give a f*** if everyone else is pushing. It just makes no sense."
The double champion topped the timesheets in that session, as he had done for both practices on Friday. It means he will be red hot favourite for pole position later on Saturday, though the weather conditions could render all the data gathered so far useless if the track remains wet.
Naturally, many of those in the grandstands at the Circuit de Catalunya will be cheering on Fernando Alonso. He has enjoyed a remarkable season so far but has yet to take a victory with the Red Bulls still so dominant.
The 41-year-old's last F1 victory came at this very track 10 years ago. And fans couldn't help but notice an omen pointing to a potential 33rd career win for Alonso, who is housed in garage 33 this weekend and who, assuming he starts Sunday's race, will have been involved in 33.33% of all Grands Prix ever held in the F1 world championship.
