Max Verstappen has dismissed criticism of his driving at Spa as 'moaning', insisting he did nothing more than defend his position.
BEL RACE 27
I was defending my position – if someone doesn't like it that's their problem
Max Verstappen
The Dutchman was involved in a three-car collision with both Ferraris at the start, and then had two further incidents with Kimi Raikkonen on the run to Les Combes - both of which triggered furious outbursts from Raikkonen, who labelled Verstappen's driving as "******* ridiculous".
Verstappen though shrugged off such comments post-race, saying: "It's a big lie. I was defending my position – if someone doesn't like it that's their problem.
"It's ridiculous. It's good TV if someone is moaning, but especially after T1 when they [Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel] do something like that, I'm not going to give up my position easily."
Asked about Turn 1, Verstappen said Vettel - who was on the outside and turned across Raikkonen and Verstappen - should take the lion's share of any blame.
"My start wasn't great but then I dived inside, didn't lock a wheel and was easily making the corner, but they kept squeezing me," he explained.
"Seb turned in on both of us and that took my front wing and destroyed the floor. From there your race is gone. He [Vettel] knows he is on the outside and suddenly turns in when there are two others cars. I think that's pretty illogical."
Raikkonen meanwhile built upon his in-race comments - he also said Verstappen's only interest was "pushing me off" - by saying the Dutchman crossed the line between fair and dangerous racing.
"I'm all up for fair battles and close racing, but when I have to brake on the straight so as not to hit him, because he moves after me, that's not correct," Raikkonen said.
"That's close to a big accident.
"The first corner is hard to say, I got stuck between two cars. I haven't seen the replay. But [in the second incident] if I have to brake from full speed... I haven't had that from any other driver.
"If I didn't brake I would have hit him full speed, so obviously something is not correct."
Raikkonen was able to fight back to ninth at the flag, three spots behind Vettel, but two ahead of Verstappen who struggled with the damage incurred on the first lap and came home 11th.
