Verstappen won’t change racing style as Massa insists teen was ‘completely wrong’ in Monaco

Max Verstappen today insisted that he won’t change the way he races after once again being criticised by Felipe Massa.

Williams driver Massa first hit out at Verstappen in the wake of the teenage racer’s collision with Lotus’ Romain Grosjean two weeks ago, saying that Verstappen’s accident had been “very dangerous”, that the Toro Rosso driver had “braked behind, much later” and that the young racer “needed to penalised”.

That penalty, a five-place grid sanction in Montreal this weekend, was then handed to Verstappen by FIA race stewards after the race, but this morning in Montreal today the pair crossed swords over the incident.

Asked if he stood by his comments about Verstappen’s crash, Massa said the stewards’ penalty confirmed his opinion of the incident, which he said was delivered in the immediate aftermath of the race.

“I said when I had the interview after the race, he was not penalised and they asked me what I thought and I said ‘I think he needs to be penalised because what he did was wrong.’

“So that’s what I said and I think, especially when you’re in your first year, 17-years old and if you do something like that and you’re not penalised, it’s completely wrong.

“I think the FIA needs to be strong in a proper way which is what they did actually, that’s the only thing I said and I don’t change my mind. That’s what I believe. We need to follow the rules. I said what he did was wrong.”

Verstappen, seated alongside Massa in today’s FIA press conference, responded that he had not braked later than usual when his collision with Grosjean occurred.

“Everybody can have their opinion, that’s the first thing, but I looked at my data, I didn’t brake any later,” he said. “I had braked later in the race before that but on the lap I crashed, it was exactly the same lap as the lap before and I got my penalty.”

He also hit back at Massa, referencing the Williams’ driver’s crash with Sergio Perez at in Montreal last year and saying that the Brazilian “should review the race from last year and see what happened there.”

Asked what he learned from the accident, Verstappen responded that it would not affect his driving style.

“I will have some work to do on this track, but I think it will not change me as a racing driver. I will keep fighting and especially when you want to fight for points, I will still go for it.”