Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says he has no reason to change his approach in the aftermath of his Bahrain Grand Prix clash with Lewis Hamilton, and quipped that he has been criticised because of his youth.
Verstappen crashed out of Q1 in Bahrain, relegating him to 15th on the grid, but rose through the order off the line and challenged Hamilton for ninth as they began the second lap.
Verstappen held the inside line at Turn 1 and the pair ran side-by-side, but made contact, with the Dutchman sustaining a left-rear puncture, which resulted in terminal damage.
Verstappen pinned the blame on Hamilton post-race, expressing surprise that no penalty was issued, while the Mercedes driver suggested Verstappen’s approach was unnecessary and unwise.
Speaking at the pre-race press conference in China on Thursday, the 20-year-old emphasised that he sees no reason to alter his approach to battling with opponents.
“Because it’s quite simple and easy to blame the younger driver, that’s the only way I can see it,” Verstappen said on the criticism from Hamilton.
“But these things happen, [there’s] no reason to change.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, you can say whatever you like about the incident, I think I had a fair shot at it.
“[I did] nothing crazy, nothing risky, but unfortunately it didn’t work out, looking back for example in Mexico last year [at the start] it did work out.
“This time we gave each other maybe not enough space but that’s racing at the end of the day, sometimes good, sometimes bad.”
Pushed further on Hamilton’s stance, Verstappen said: “I might have a talk with him, depends if it’s necessary, [but] why should I change something?
“I don’t think I did anything wrong in terms of my approach, was just trying to overtake a car and I think it was a fair chance, I went for it.”
