Verstappen sees positives in rivals racing harder against him

Max Verstappen accepts his Formula 1 rivals “can be a bit harder towards me” during on track battles but sees it as a mark of respect as he looks to fight back from a frustrating run of results.

Verstappen has been involved in three high-profile clashes with other drivers at the past three races, two of which resulted in his retirement from the Bahrain Grand Prix and Azerbaijan Grand Prix, to mark an underwhelming start to the 2018 F1 season.

The Red Bull driver, who has been lauded for his track battles as he rose through the ranks in F1 which have seen him tipped as a future world champion, has frequently found himself in the spotlight in incidents and speaking before the Azerbaijan race he accepted his rivals are likely to defend harder against him because of it.

“I can see that they can be a bit harder towards me. It’s not necessarily a problem. It’s actually a good thing if people do that to you,” Verstappen said during the build-up to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “I mean everything went with respect [between drivers].”

Verstappen’s teammate clash with Daniel Ricciardo saw him defend his track position, rather than his previous two clashes with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel putting him attacking for position, with Red Bull apportioning equal blame on its two drivers for the incident in Baku and ordering both drivers to apologise to the team.

The Dutch driver is eager to get past his recent run of poor results, starting this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix where he claimed victory in 2016, while hoping to lean on his support team’s advice as well as responding within himself.

“I speak to many people but of course my dad is the main person,” he said. “I’ve spoken a lot with Helmut [Marko] as well, because he understands racing very well.

“Of course I have to look at myself. At the end of the day, I could speak to a lot of people, but it has to come from me so I have to understand myself.”