Max Verstappen has shrugged off criticism of his driving by Lewis Hamilton after the Mexican Grand Prix.
The two drivers touched winding through the tricky first sequence of corners at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez resulting in both men having to take to the grass.
Afterwards, the Mercedes driver suggested Verstappen was a driver that he always needed to give “extra space” in racing situations and even claimed he was “torpedoed” by the Dutchman.
“Looking at Turn 1 and 2 in Mexico, I don’t think that happened,” the 22-year-old replied.
“I think from my side it is a bit of a silly comment to make because I think I always hard race but fair, and I think it is just not correct.
“Of course it easy to have a dig at someone but from my side, it’s fine. It’s always positive when someone talks about you because it means you are in their heads.
“I just focus on my driving and that’s enough said.”
Verstappen also claimed it was wrong for a driver to speak out publicly against a rival, suggesting battles should be resolved on track.
“From our side, I don’t need to dig into other people in a press conference because first of all, I think it’s a bit disrespectful as well, and I prefer to fight on track, which I love to do,” he added.
“And of course I like to fight hard, but on the edge, otherwise – if they want me to stay behind, it’s also better to stay at home.”
The Red Bull driver also found support for his approach, most notably from Hamilton’s own Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“I think it’s a bit overblown,” the Finn of the reaction to the incident via Sky Sports.
“He’s had some really, really good races and good overtakes. Good hard racing and fair racing. Then sometimes one thing like this can just make the stories bigger than they are.
“He is an aggressive driver, and it’s fine. Obviously every driver behaves differently and you always treat every driver differently on track. That’s fine – it would be boring if we all were the same.”
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Mexico wasn’t the finest weekend of the Dutchman’s career, however, and F1 motorsport director Ross Brawn hopes he will reflect on the setbacks he faced.
“Max made a few mistakes that cost him dearly, starting on Saturday when he ignored yellow flags following Valtteri Bottas’ Q3 crash, and afterwards blatantly admitting that he had not reduced his speed,” Brawn said via Crash.net.
“Then, on Sunday, the red mist came down on the first lap as he tangled with Hamilton in Turn 2 after the start.
“To make matters worse he picked up a puncture following a somewhat ambitious move past Bottas in the stadium section a few laps later and that was pretty much that.
“There will be little consolation in his spirited fightback to sixth from P20 that involved a marathon 66-lap stint on hard tyres. He showed his age or lack of it, he’s still only 22 and so there is plenty of room for improvement.
“The important thing is to learn from one’s mistakes, which applies even if you’re 50 but perhaps a little more so at 22.
“You have to win the ones you should win and the ones you shouldn’t as demonstrated by Lewis – that is how you become a world champion.”