Max Verstappen says he cannot take criticism from four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel seriously, because of the incidents the German has gotten himself into this and last season.
Verstappen and Vettel found themselves locked in a battle for position during the recent British Grand Prix, with the pair making slight contact as the Ferrari driver attempted to pass the Dutchman at Vale and Club for fourth place.
Vettel accused the Red Bull man of moving under braking and said he was "a bit jumpy" whilst defending.
But Verstappen says he doesn't listen to Vettel's criticism, because he cannot take it seriously when it's coming from a driver who has been involved in multiple incidents, including deliberately driving into Lewis Hamilton during the Azerbaijan GP, for which he was handed three penalty points, taking him to nine – three shy of a race ban.*
"I don't take that [criticism] seriously," Verstappen is quoted as saying by Eurosport. "Especially not after all the things he did. If you look at the penalty points that he's got…
"The fight with Sebastian was good. It was hard but fair, I think," added the 19-year-old. "That little bit of contact maybe not, but for the rest everything was OK."
Verstappen was disappointed with Red Bull's pace at Silverstone, which meant he was unable to stay with Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen in the latter stages of the race, until both suffered tyre blowouts, but is hopeful of making gains at the next race in Hungary when Red Bull introduces its latest upgrades.
"We were still too slow, of course, but I think we did the maximum," he said. "I think it was positive. We scored points. And now we need to improve the car.
"Hard to say," he replied when asked about his expectations for Hungary. "We get a lot of updates, so we need to see how these work. We shall see."
*Three of Vettel's penalty points expired after the British GP, taking his total down to six.
