Verstappen calls for blue flag tweaks after Grosjean hold-up

Verstappen drove from 16th on the grid to third during the China race, but was forced to defend his unlikely podium from teammate Daniel Ricciardo in the closing laps, their battle going down to the wire.

For much of that duel, Verstappen was on the radio with Red Bull to voice his concerns over the Haas car of Romain Grosjean, which was running right ahead, a lap down.

The Dutchman arrived within two seconds of Grosjean on lap 50 of 56, but never did close the gap to within a second of the Haas.

He called the situation "ridiculous" several times over the radio and asked his team to talk to race director Charlie Whiting, but was told nothing could be done.

After the race, Verstappen responded to the suggestions that Grosjean was too far ahead to be shown a blue flag, telling Sky Sports: "One and a half seconds is not that much. There were blue flags all the time.

"It's disturbing; as soon as you get within two seconds, and especially with a car balance that's already on the understeer side, it's horrible.

"I think he had no one in front, and there was no one behind us, so he could have moved behind us.

"In the end, it didn't damage anything in terms of my race, but it's not ideal. We need to look into what we should do with those cars if there's blue flags."

While praising Verstappen for a "fantastic drive", Red Bull team boss Christian Horner conceded he wasn't expecting Grosjean to be made to move over.

"He [Verstappen] was struggling with an awful lot of understeer, and he felt that being in that proximity was hurting him," Horner told Sky Sports. "But Charlie was never going to wave him past."