Almost two weeks after their coming together in Brazil, Max Verstappen maintains he did nothing wrong with his post-race pushing of Esteban Ocon.
The two drivers collided while the Dutchman was leading at Interlagos, costing him the victory and was then seen confronting the Frenchman in the weighing area in parc ferme, earning himself two days public service.
On Thursday, Verstappen and Ocon were back in the same room ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the Red Bull driver had no intention of backing down over his actions.
“It’s easy to say I should have done something different, but I don’t expect to crash with a backmarker,” Max claimed.
“I honestly don’t understand what I should be doing different, with the emotional side of it you have not been a racing driver or you have not been in this position where there is a lot to play for.
“We are all here to win and you are in that position, then it gets taken from you. It’s not nice.
“Emotions can then take over and I think it is really normal [to react like that].”
The 21-year-old stated that something Ocon said in the weighing area caused his reaction, pushed on what that was, Verstappen wouldn’t be drawn.
“Something I wasn’t expecting to hear,” he replied. “It doesn’t matter what it is was, at the end of the day.
“It clearly p***ed me off as straightaway I was expecting an apology. Maybe with the adrenaline still kicking in from the race then maybe you don’t get the right answer.
“But we are not robots. We have emotions. We could put robots in the car but I don’t think we want that.”
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As for Ocon, he simply wanted to move on ahead of what is his final race at least for a year at Yas Marina.
“Yeah, I just think we need to move forward from what happened, we can’t change the past,” he commented.
“Even if Max said the opposite and that he would like to come back on what he did after the race, it’s done, we can’t change it and we have to move forward.”