Verstappen dismisses “biased” critics and says F1 has “over-regulated” racing · RaceFans

Max Verstappen dismissed criticism of his driving following his double penalty in the Mexican Grand Prix and denied F1’s racing rules need to be tightened up.

The stewards handed the Red Bull driver two 10-second time penalties for a pair of incidents with his closest championship rival Lando Norris on the same lap of last weekend’s race.

Among the critics of Verstappen’s driving was 1996 world champion Damon Hill, who said Verstappen “made no attempt to back off and make the corner and leave room for Lando,” when the pair went off the track at turn seven last weekend. “You shouldn’t be allowed to use your car as a weapon and simply block the track,” added Hill.

Verstappen brushed off Hill’s comments when they were put to him during today’s FIA press conference. “I don’t listen to those individuals,” he said. “I just do my thing. I’m a three-time world champion. I think I know what I’m doing.”

He said he is only interested in the views of “people that are objective and close to me.”

“Some people are just being very annoying and I know who these people are,” he added. “I don’t really pay a lot of attention to them anyway.

“I’ve got to this stage in my career with the right people supporting me and making my own decisions so I think I know what I’m doing.”

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“Some people are just a bit biased,” he added.

Asked whether he would alter his approach to racing given the penalties he collected in Mexico, Verstappen said: “I’ve heard that before in my career, so it’s my tenth year in Formula 1, I think I know what I’m doing.”

Several drivers have urged the FIA to revise its racing rules to curb Verstappen’s tactic of intentionally running off-track in a corner to prevent a rival overtaking him. But Verstappen said there is no need to add more rules.

“It’s never going to be perfect because even if you remove rules, then you get into a battle, then you want more rules because it’s not clear what is allowed or not,” he said. “Then when you have too many rules, you want fewer rules. It just keeps on going left and right all the time.

“Do I think it’s over-regulated? Probably yes. I mean, in general, the rule book is only getting bigger and bigger every single year. I don’t think that’s always the right way forward.”