Damon Hill stands by his criticisms of Max Verstappen’s driving, saying the Dutchman uses “fear and intimidation” against his Formula 1 rivals.

The 1996 world champion has come under attack from Verstappen in the wake of remarks he made this week accusing the Red Bull ace of acting like Wacky Races villain Dick Dastardly.

Speaking on a Sky podcast, Hill said that the second clash between Verstappen and Lando Norris in Mexico last week was something he was not very happy with.

“The second move was just daft and Dick Dastardly stuff,” said Hill. “He accelerated to the apex and drove Lando off the track and Lando didn’t have much option. That was silly driving.”

Verstappen said in Brazil that he felt some remarks made this week against him were simply about causing mischief.

“[I listen to] people that are objective and close to me and not just there to stir [things up],” said Verstappen when asked about Hill’s comments. “Some people are just being very annoying.

“I know who these people are, although I don’t really pay a lot of attention to them anyway.”

While Hill was obviously in Verstappen’s sights when he made those remarks, the Briton said on Friday that his opinion was unchanged.

Asked on Sky if he stood by his comments, he said: “Yes, I do. I think that he [Verstappen] is using fear and intimidation.

Damon Hill

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“I think he also has explained a little bit more about his tactics, which has been that he regards it as a gamble. Sometimes it may pay off and sometimes he may get the better of the stewards, they might not apply a penalty. But he’s also using it as a way of compromising the title contender in Lando Norris.

“So, there’s some logic, there’s some method, to his angriness, if you want to call it that, on the track.

“He, as he says, he knows what he’s doing, but is it right and is it fair? And I think there’s also rules….to ensure fairness, and we shouldn’t be condoning driving cars off the track.”

Hill reckoned that Verstappen’s aggressive approach to racing was something that he had carried with him since he first entered F1.

“I’m clear about what I understand Max to be,” added Hill. “He’s been like that, and he’s been consistent from the moment he arrived in F1 in using what was regarded as dangerous tactics.

“The regulations have been brought in to clear up some of the things that he himself has brought upon himself, because of the way he drives.

“The FIA bring in regulations, obviously, to try and contain it, because they don’t race to be like that. They don’t want dangerous situations as well, such as changing lines in the braking area and stuff like that, which is what he used to get up to as well.”

Hill also said it was wrong of Verstappen to suggest that it was only a couple of people who were criticising him.

“When he makes the point about individuals, it’s not individuals, it’s almost universal disapproval,” added Hill. “That’s the point. It’s not a vendetta against Max. It’s simply the people who watch the racing want it to be conducted in a reasonable and fair way.

“If everybody was doing this, it would be daft, it would be silly, and it wouldn’t be worth watching. We like close racing.

“Where we are, in Sao Paulo, this is where it all started, a little bit in ’21, with him running deep into Turn Four [against Lewis Hamilton].

“Everyone went, ‘hang on a minute, you can’t just run the guy off, clean off the road to defend.’ And he’s still doing it.”

Verstappen and Russell then lowered the first place benchmark, before Perez nipped ahead on a 1m12.099s.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

That stood as the top spot for a little while, before Russell and then Verstappen got back ahead with 1m11.806s and 1m11.712s efforts respectively.

After a lull in action to allow for initial set-up adjustments, the drivers headed back out on the same rubber as before – with Hamilton climbing the order to sit second with his first timed lap back on track.

Approaching the final third, Russell made an early switch to the softs and duly retook first with a 1m10.791s, but it took a chunk more of the session before any more of the frontrunners did likewise.

That looked to be toppled when Verstappen went quicker than Russell in sector one on his first flier on the softs in the closing minutes, before the Dutchman lost enough time in sector two to be behind the benchmark and he then aborted the lap in any case.

This confined Verstappen to 15th with his best time coming from the mediums, while Perez did complete a softs run that was only good for 19th in the replaced chassis he is running this weekend.

Russell was finally beaten with Norris’s final lap in the closing minute, as the McLaren driver posted a 1m10.610s, which did not feature Norris’s best final sector on the session.

Hamilton did not run the softs and so ended up 16th in a session where there was much driver feedback on savage bumps in the new track surface.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix – Free Practice 1

Max Verstappen will take a five-place grid penalty for an engine change for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix, as he moves on to his sixth internal combustion engine of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

The championship leader had already taken a new ICE beyond the allowable limit of four at July’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, this being the third successive year that Red Bull had chosen to take the hit at that circuit.

Following a series of power unit issues in Mexico’s Friday sessions, as an air leak kept Verstappen confined to the garage during the final part of FP1 and the majority of FP2, Red Bull has chosen to take another engine from outside its pool.

This means that Verstappen will lose five places from wherever he qualifies for Sunday’s grand prix, although his sprint race qualifying result will be unaffected.

Verstappen will also use a new exhaust system, taking him up to eight used throughout the season, with eight permitted through the year.

The Dutchman has been in an increasingly precarious situation with his engine allowance for much of the season, as a problem with one unit in practice for the Canadian Grand Prix in June led to a lengthy inspection – leading to a fourth ICE being used as early as Spain.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

This led to Red Bull taking a new Honda powerplant at Spa, but Verstappen has now lost another from his pool as a result of the issues in Mexico.

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko told Austrian broadcaster ORF that the engine eventually used at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez “was no longer intended for the race, and the older an engine gets, the more its performance diminishes.”

He added that the Red Bull was giving up approximately “three to eight km/h on the straights” thanks to the reduction in horsepower.

Asked on Thursday if Brazil was one of the less compromising races to take a power unit penalty, Verstappen responded that it was not a certainty that he could recover ground lost to a penalty.

“That is something that is always unknown. You think that one particular track is the best place to take an engine or whatever penalty, but it’s never guaranteed. But yeah, it’s a possibility.”

Sergio Perez has changed chassis for the Brazilian Grand Prix after Red Bull agreed to a request from the struggling Mexican driver.

In the wake of a hugely disappointing home outing for Perez in Mexico City last weekend, he has been looking for answers about why his form has been so disappointing in recent outings.

Red Bull has now confirmed that as part of its bid to do everything possible to help its driver, the team has agreed to swap chassis for this weekend’s Interlagos event to see if that brings any improvement.

Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan said: “We’ve changed him back into a different chassis, which we can do.

“He asked if we can, and we said fine. The boys have got a bit of work, but they didn’t mind.”

Monaghan clarified that this was a chassis that had been used previously this year, rather than being brand new.

“We don’t make a new one at this point of the season,” he said.

While he has been given a different chassis, Perez will continue to run an older-specification floor in Brazil compared to team-mate Max Verstappen – but hopes he will have the same spec by Las Vegas.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Speaking about the new floor, Perez said: “We don’t have it at the moment. Hopefully for Vegas, as there will be a little bit more time.

“[It means] we are carrying a little bit of weight, and it is not ideal, but the team is doing the best they can.”

Monaghan has played down the differences though, suggesting the detailed tweaks are not that major to lead to a lap time deficit.

“Checo is on a different edge specification from Max,” said Monaghan. “So, if you look at the edge wing itself, it’s subtly different. It’s a small difference.

“The magnitude is, I would argue, small enough that it’s not going to cause him to have a significant difference to Max.

“We’ve done it like that purely and simply because it’s the best way to service two cars and ensure that we can service them fairly with spares.”

Red Bull also said that the brake problems that Perez complained about hurting his pace in Mexico were nothing major.

“I don’t know there was anything particularly wrong with the car, but the brake material, we don’t put it on for multiple events,” he added.

“We can vary the temperature of the brakes. Equally he can vary them if he sits in traffic and so on. But I think we’ve resolved the doubts we have over those.”

The FIA is still considering whether or not it will investigate Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc for swearing in Mexico’s press conference, with a call expected on Friday.

In Sunday’s post-race press conference Leclerc used an expletive to describe his mindset as he went off the track at Mexico’s final corner, which allowed McLaren driver Lando Norris through to claim second.

“I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that oversteer, I had an oversteer from the other side and then I was like, ‘fuck’,” he said, before realising he might get in trouble over his language given the FIA’s recent crackdown on swearing.

“Oh, sorry! Oh no, I don’t want to join Max,” Leclerc added, referring to Verstappen being handed a community service penalty for his own use of the word in Azerbaijan.

In Brazil, Verstappen suggested steward bias was behind the fact that he got penalised and Leclerc didn’t.

“Apparently it only counts for me anyway, because after the race in Mexico someone was swearing. I didn’t hear anything from it,” he said.

“It’s weird. Actually what he says is worse than what I said in the context, and it was a much more important press conference with more people watching.”

Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, in the Press Conference

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

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But Motorsport.com has since learned the FIA is still set to make a call on Leclerc, having to wait until its stewards panel has travelled to Brazil so they can convene and look into the matter.

A decision on whether Leclerc will be investigated is expected on Friday.

After his swearing penalty Verstappen held a protest in the FIA’s official press conferences in Singapore, and his case led to unease among other drivers over how severely FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem was clamping down on swearing.

“This goes down to people’s personal opinions,” Mercedes man and driver association director George Russell said in Mexico. “I think for people where English isn’t their native language, they have different views on swearing. And even if you compare, the Brits to the Aussies, they say a specific C-word, which in some context is being polite to someone, whereas if you say that in the UK, that is massively frowned upon.

“So, it goes back to not having a set of regulations that are 100 pages long, saying ‘you’re allowed to say this, you can’t say that’.

“I think common sense needs to be applied, and if somebody does swear inappropriately, then maybe there should be the appropriate fine or whatever against that. A community service tends to be too much for the crime that was committed.”

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