Max Verstappen has sharply countered McLaren CEO Zak Brown's recent criticism following the highly-contentious incident at Silverstone - amid an intensifying championship rivalry.
Lando Norris is quickly proving to be Verstappen's primary challenger for the 2024 championship, leading McLaren's Andrea Stella and Brown to ramp up their rhetoric following the well-known collision in Austria the previous week.
"Until someone tells Max, 'Hey, that's against the regulations', he's not going to know any different," Brown commented last Friday.
Brown also charged Christian Horner with managing Red Bull in a manner devoid of "respect."
"We've seen there be lack of respect," Brown stated, "whether it's financial regulations or sporting, issues with fathers and things of that nature. I just don't think that's how we need to go racing."
Despite this, some observers have praised the additional drama that has heightened the increasingly thrilling and competitive 2024 season.
"I thought that criticism was great," chuckled former Dutch F1 driver Christijan Albers on Viaplay. "Zak Brown's political game is beautiful.
A stab here and a string there, taking on Horner - even Andrea Stella went crazy. Finally the fire is back!"
When confronted with Brown's critique, Max Verstappen responded dismissively and amusingly in comments reported by the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper: "Who is Zak Brown?"
The triple world champion also clarified that his recent run-in with Norris was not discussed in the FIA drivers' briefing.
"No," Verstappen stated. "It was actually just about current issues, things that we can perhaps improve for the future with the circuits, track limits, things like that. We didn't talk about it (the Norris incident) anymore," the Red Bull driver maintains.
