F1: Bottas's driving was dangerous - Verstappen

Max Verstappen said Valtteri Bottas's driving was "dangerous" and "unnecessary" after the two twice almost collided in Formula 1 qualifying for the European Grand Prix in Baku.

Bottas dived down the inside of Verstappen at Turn 1 during the first runs in Q3 with the latter taking avoiding action over the runoff. On the second runs, with time running out after the red flag for Lewis Hamilton's crash, the same thing happened.

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Verstappen said: "It was dangerous what he was doing. Dangerous and unnecessary and not clever.

"I'm preparing for my timed lap and I understand he wants a tow, but there was not one point where he was able to overtake me and brake in a normal position, so I lose my lap and he also destroys his own lap.

"I can understand it happens once, 'OK, the top speed is not too bad, there's no chance to do this' but then to do it again in Q3 – yeah, I don't get it."

Regarding the first incident, Verstappen added: "He was locking up, so I was like, 'Maybe he's going to hit my side' so it's better to go wide. But again you lose that set [of tires], I have to come in, I had only one run in Q2, so it's all just very difficult."

When asked if he would speak to Bottas, he said: "No. I don't need to be the person to go to him, he should come to me. For me, it's fine. Hopefully he learns from it."

Bottas said "he wasn't planning to" speak to Verstappen either.

"He lost something but he needs to understand I was also fighting for my track position and my qualifying result and it can happen," he added.

Giving his view on the the two incidents, Bottas described them as "unlucky."

"Q3 run one, I thought and the team thought that Verstappen was on a double out-lap as they've been doing all weekend," he said. "I saw his ERS light flashing. He was not in the mode yet.

"I found out in Turn 19/20 that maybe he was going for the lap and at that place you can't back off anymore, you'd lose all the straightline speed.

"I saw the only option for me was to try and overtake, which I could do but that for sure ruined his lap and also my lap. [On the second run] everyone's trying to gain track position and opening the lap I knew there was probably not much time left so I didn't have time to leave a proper gap to Verstappen.

"So again I saw my only opportunity was to try and fight for the track position and try and overtake. I couldn't do it and again it ruined my lap and his lap and I think it was very unlucky."

Originally on Autosport.com