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F1 Belgian GP: Vettel: It is right to criticise Verstappen, but…

Sebastian Vettel says he is eager to talk with Max Verstappen to discuss his driving tactics after criticising the youngster for his on track conduct in an ill-tempered Belgian Grand Prix.

Carrying the heightened expectations of the large Dutch contingent in the stands, Verstappen endured a dismal afternoon after a poor start led to contact with Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel at turn one, necessitating an early pit-stop for all three.

Despite replacing the front-wing, however, Verstappen struggled for outright pace throughout and created further controversy when defending against the Ferraris as they came back up the order, with Raikkonen launching into an expletive-laden tirade over the team radio after being forced wide at Les Combes.

Though the Red Bull driver defended his actions after the race, Vettel says he wants to meet with Verstappen to talk through his actions, but emphasises he doesn't want to turn it into a 'fuss'.

"I will try and talk to Max, not now because I think he didn't have a good day, I didn't have a good day, Kimi didn't have a good day. But I'm not a fan of penalising people, it's not the way to educate, we need to talk to each other, we need to have respect.

"I think there has been a couple of manoeuvres that the rest of the field is not happy with his behaviour, as I said the best way to educate and the best way is just to talk rather than create a fuss in the media and try to talk via some other channels. We are men and it's best to stand in front of each other and talk to each other.

"I think it's right to criticize, I think it's wrong to make too much of a story. I get along with him, I like him, he's aggressive and I think that's a strength for him, but certain movements especially under braking which I faced when I was racing with him I don't think are correct.

"It's probably something that needs to click and he needs to understand but in that race there was a lot going on, in the end it wasn't the smartest thing to do because I lost a lot of time, he lost a lot of time and he was about to pit."

Discussing the turn one clash, which would tip Vettel into a spin, the German proceeded to lay the blame at Verstappen for his late move to the inside to squeeze Raikkonen.

"Nico was ahead but I was right behind on the outside leading the way into the first corner. Then I could hardly see Kimi because I was more than half a car length ahead when I turned in and to be honest he was already in the blind spot, never to speak of Max which just looking at it now was a very bold move trying to recover those two places in one corner diving down the inside, that obviously was the reason why Kimi couldn't turn in and follow the lead that I was dictating as the leading car of that group.

"With hindsight it's easy, I turn in later or go wider and only those two are making contact and I get away with it. The problem is that you can't fit three cars in that corner and the inside one of these able to trigger trouble on the outside which Kimi and myself suffered from."

Zdroj: crash.net