Sebastian Vettel says he will seek to talk with Max Verstappen in private about the clashes the Dutchman had with both Ferrari drivers during the Japanese GP.
The Red Bull driver was given a five-second penalty after returning to the track “unsafely” and touched with Kimi Raikkonen at the final chicane on the opening lap and then Max, according to the German, turned in on him as Vettel tried a near divebomb into Spoon.
With the four-time world champion recovering to sixth after dropping down the field, it all-but ended his championship hopes with Lewis Hamilton able to seal the title next weekend in Austin.
On Verstappen though, Vettel believes he should be more considerate of those drivers around him.
“He is quick, but it doesn’t help also the way he came back onto the track with Kimi,” he claimed.
“I don’t want this to end up as ‘Seb says this, Max says this’. I will talk about it with him when it is the right time, so this way I would prefer.
“But you ask me these questions so I give you my answer.”
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As a man who has had to control both Vettel and Verstappen during his time as Red Bull team boss, Christian Horner was diplomatic in his view of the incident.
“It’s very hard to overtake into that corner,” he said. “It’s not a big braking zone, and obviously Sebastian was optimistic in his move and Max was robust in his defence.
“For me, it was a racing incident, and I think the stewards came to the right decision.
“It was very opportunistic by Seb at a corner that it’s very hard to overtake at.”