Max Verstappen responds to Carlos Sainz F1 criticism: 'It is like a jungle'

Max Verstappen has made a "jungle" claim in response to Carlos Sainz's criticism of the Red Bull driver's aggressive nature in the early stages of the Miami Grand Prix.

From second on the grid, Verstappen spun at Turn 2 whilst battling Charles Leclerc, and dropped down to the fringes of the points positions, where he came across Williams' Sainz and Alex Albon.

At the end of the first lap, Verstappen lunged up the inside of Sainz with the former Toro Rosso team-mates engaged in a close wheel-to-wheel battle, which led Sainz to accuse Verstappen of treating the midfield in such a manner due to the expectation that they would not put up a fight against him. 

In response to Sainz's criticism, Verstappen simply described the midfield of F1 as "a jungle."

"I probably had one of the best starts of the year and had amazing momentum into Turn 1, and Max in front of me had the spin, so I had to back off," Sainz explained to media, including RacingNews365.

"People were racing really hard, and I don't know why; they woke up wanting to crash. Many people were out there, but I kept out of trouble, and once the race settled, I picked up one by one and pulled away to finish P9. I am happy with that; it was a solid race.

"No disrespect, but what [Max] did in Turn 17 was almost like a launch, knowing that because we're in the midfield, we are not going to fight him and we're going to have to let him by at some point. 

"It was possibly a bit of frustration with the spin and trying to get back to the front as soon as possible, but I mean, it is racing.

"I'm not going to criticise it, it is just that at that point, I felt like we were going to crash, and he took me off track, and I lost three positions."

In response, when questioned by RacingNews365 for his take on Sainz's comments, Verstappen simply replied: "I don't know, it is a bit of a jungle in the midfield, so I don't know what to say."