Seven-time F1 grand prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya has stated he would have "put Liam Lawson in the barrier" if he were in Max Verstappen's shoes on Friday.
The duo collided during the second practice session as they ran side by side through the stadium section around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The incident did not go unpunished by the stewards, with both drivers now set to serve one-place grid penalties for Sunday's race.
While Montoya felt that Lawson had a right to stand up for himself when Verstappen attempted to overtake, he stated he would have been even more aggressive if he was in the Dutchman's car.
"I look at that and I understand that Liam felt that it was a late lunge, that it was a necessary late lunge, and he still made the corner," Montoya told F1 TV.
"And Max stayed there anyway, so he said, 'You're going to stay there, then I'm going to drive you off the track'.
"Liam went deep and used the whole track, then Max said, 'I'm going to cut the track and run over you'.
"You're not going to back off. If I'm sitting in Liam's position, I think what Liam did was the right thing.
"If I'm in Max's position, I would have put him in the tyre [barrier]."
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Verstappen move 'unnecessary', says Hinchcliffe
As well as the grid penalties for both drivers, Verstappen and Lawson were both handed one penalty point on their super licences.
The clash has an added element of intrigue due to both drivers being part of the Red Bull set-up, and even being team-mates with one another a handful of races ago when Lawson was standing in for an injured Isack Hadjar.
Former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe insisted both drivers need to take blame, while acknowledging that Verstappen's escalation was "unnecessary".
"It's hard to say anything complimentary about either guy in this scenario," Hinchcliffe said.
"I imagine there's going to be quite a talking to back at the Red Bull at the end of all this because I think both drivers play a part here.
"Both drivers have some degree of fault, and ultimately you damage two race cars.
"Max had to do the rest of his session with a damaged floor. It's just sacrificing getting useful data.
"But clearly driving over the curb into what's essentially a team-mate is just so unnecessary. So both guys have to own a little bit of that."
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