Max Verstappen has compared himself to Zlatan Ibrahimovic after brushing away criticism of his aggressive overtaking and defensive methods in recent races.
Matters came to a head at Spa last weekend when the 18-year-old was involved in a coming together with the Ferrari pair of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, but Verstappen made it clear that, like Manchester United’s new striker, he was not going to change his style.
“To be honest, for me Spa is done,” he said on Thursday. “You have to see it like this. Let’s say you put Ibrahimovic in terms of attacking you, you put him up as a defender. Would he like it just because other people think he is a better defender? I don’t think he will listen to those guys.
“If he likes to attack, he wants to attack. It is not because other drivers tell me I have to change my driving style that I will change my driving style.”
Verstappen, who became the sport’s youngest-ever winner with his triumph in Spain in May, said of the Ferrari drivers last weekend: “If they screw up my race, I’m not going to make it easy for them. I think they should understand that. I’m not going to say: ‘Come on through.’”
Raikkonen, in particular, had voiced his concern at Verstappen’s potential “payback”, saying that a grand prix race was “not the place” to get his own back. This appeared to worry the Finn, who said on Thursday: “Personally I have nothing against Max. He is doing a good job. He is fast. But there are certain things in my feeling that are not correct if you have to slow down or brake at full speed, but obviously those things are never-ending discussions.”
Vettel added: “I haven’t spoken to him yet. I think the thing that we’ve spoken about before has come up again, about moving under breaking which obviously, as the lead car, is the wrong thing to do. I think he understood when we spoke before but we obviously need to maybe have another chat.”
