Wednesday 31 August 2016 20:52, UK
Max Verstappen's driving style should not be pinned down but he needs to show more respect to his fellow drivers on the track, according to the F1 Report guests.
The young Dutchman's style suffered heavy criticism again in Spa at the weekend after several wheel-to-wheel incidents, with the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes chief Toto Wolff claiming he will cause a big accident unless he reins his driving in.
Sky F1's Marc Priestley says it is important that Verstappen should be allowed to express himself behind the wheel but admitted the Red Bull driver was too aggressive when defending against Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at Spa.
"We do want elbows out racing, you don't want to pin [Max] down too much because he's exciting to watch," he said on the F1 Report, which airs on Wednesday at 8.30pm on Sky Sports F1. "But it's just about having respect for other drivers and keeping it as safe as it can be."
He added: "The defensive moves that Max put on Kimi, where Kimi has to brake at 200mph down the Kemmel straight, that's dangerous and it [was close] to causing an enormous accident.
"Any accident with two cars touching at that kind of speed is going to be massive, and the fact we're still giving Max warnings for that kind of thing shows how seriously the drivers are taking it.
"I don't think he's broken any rules by the letter of the law but these very late rash defensive moves in the middle of the track at that speed, if it does cause an accident we're going to be having a very different conversation and it can't get to that point.
"It's about respect between drivers. They need to know they can trust another driver going into a turn or into an overtaking move, but I don't think some of the more experienced drivers at the moment think they can trust Max, or have any idea how he's going to react, and they could end up in the grass or in the wall."
Jordan King, the GP2 driver who used to race against Verstappen, joined Priestley and Natalie Pinkham in the studio and said he could understand the views of Raikkonen and Co.
"I raced against him a couple of years ago and I know exactly what they're talking about. It was very much: 'If there's room, I'll go for it, I'm inviting you to have an accident and it's your job to move out of the way'.
"There's nothing wrong, he hasn't broken the law but there has to be some kind of respect. At Turn One, I don't think it was his fault, but there were a couple of times into Les Combes where he ran off the track trying to defend a position.
"I'm all for trying to run someone as close to the edge of the track as you can, that's racing and you don't want to let people past you, but by taking yourself off the track as well to defend your position is just that extra per cent too much."
Don't miss the F1 Report: Belgian GP review on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm on Wednesday as Marc Priestley and Jordan King join Natalie Pinkham in the studio to discuss the fallout from the Spa race.
