19/06/2016
NEWS STORY
Having qualified ninth, Max Verstappen has hit out at Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.
The pair were involved in a couple of incidents over the course of the session, the second of which caused the Dutch youngster to ask his team: "What the **** is he doing?"
Both incidents occurred at T1, the first in Q1 and the second in Q3, both, according to Verstappen entirely wrecking his laps.
"It was just not clever from him," he told reporters. "I was preparing for my timed lap and I understand that he wanted a tow, but there was not one point for him being able to overtake me and brake under normal conditions.
"The result was he ruined my lap and destroyed his lap as well," he added. "If that happens once, forget about it, but if you do the same thing again in Q3, that's not smart. I don't get it.
Asked if he thought the Finn should be penalised, Verstappen said: "I don't know about a penalty, but it was dangerous what he was doing. It was dangerous and unnecessary... and not clever!
Asked if he would have words with the Williams driver, the 18-year-old was adamant.
"No!" he replied. "Because I don't need to be the person to go to him, he should come to me!"
Whilst a last gasp effort from his teammate Daniel Ricciardo saw the Australian go third, Verstappen is confident he too could have been at the sharp end of the grid.
"If I check all the data before the red flag I could have challenged for P2," he said. "So it is a massive frustration, as we know that the speed is there. I know there are chances for overtaking in the race, but I prefer to start from row one than P9, that's for sure."
Naturally, Bottas, saw it slightly differently.
"I thought, and the team thought, that Verstappen was on a double out lap, as they had been doing all weekend," said the Finn. "I got the confirmation of that myself when exiting Turn 16. I saw his ERS lights flashing, so he was not in the (engine) mode yet. I was trying to get a good gap so I could get a nice slipstream to the lap and open the lap, but then he pulled away in Turn 19.
So I found out at Turn 19 that maybe he was going for the lap and at that place you cannot back off any more as you lose all the straight line speed. So I thought the only option for me was to try to overtake. But it ruined his lap and also my lap. I got some dirt on my tyres and I don't even call that a lap, there was a lap time on the board that put me for P8.
"On the second run I had the red flag with Lewis," he continued. "I went out again after the red flag, but I don't think the lap would have been mega. I felt with the tyres we lost quite a bit of temperature with the red flag, and there was just a bit of traffic. Everyone was trying to gain a track position and opening the lap I knew there was probably not much time left, so I didn't have time to leave a proper gap to Verstappen.
"Again I saw my only opportunity was to try to fight for the track position and try to overtake, but I couldn't do it. Again it ruined my lap and his lap.
"I think it was really unlucky," he concluded, "I was driven into really difficult decisions and situations today. Not my day at all."
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