Max Verstappen “sent a finger to the FIA” in his recent on-track instances with Lando Norris, according to ex-F1 driver Martin Donnelly.
Verstappen and Norris went wheel-to-wheel at the US Grand Prix last month with Verstappen forcing his rival wide on two occasions.
Both incidents went unpunished - however one week later in Mexico, the Dutchman was issued a duo of 10-second time penalties for pushing the McLaren driver off the circuit.
Speaking exclusively to RacingNews365, Donnelly highlighted Verstappen's aggressive style was simply an application of the racing rulebook.
“The McLaren team said [at the US Grand Prix] ‘yes, your nose was in front Lando’,” Donnelly stated.
“But Max knew to pick up the accelerator from the brakes to gain speed and as he said, ‘I'm not breaking any rules - I was in front at the apex'.
“Okay, he couldn’t hang onto the car on the exit, but he actually forced Lando off.
“He knew the rules, he knew what he was doing and he sent a finger to the FIA: ‘I’ve done nothing wrong here. I have played by your rules’.
“So that needed looking into again, because in the next race, he did it twice in Mexico and they clamped down on that.”
Donnelly keen to see junior racing ladder consistency
As well as his experience behind the wheel of a race car, Donnelly has also carried out duties as an F1 steward at various grands prix.
Stewarding has been a hot topic of debate of late with drivers issuing renewed calls for consistent decision-making, with some suggesting the formation of a permanent stewarding team could be a solution.
Donnelly stated the consistent decisions must not stop with F1, but should instead trickle down the junior racing ladder.
“That's all well and good doing that in F1, but in the Formula 2, Formula 3 and Formula 4 series, the young lads are watching that,” he said.
“They need to keep those rules consistent in the junior formulas - not just F1.
“All the FIA formulas, they’re saying you can’t lean on or push [a car] off the track, which happens quite a lot in junior racing. ”
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