Max Verstappen looks on from the podium at Zandvoort after the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix
Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive, has urged Max Verstappen to “drive like the World Champion you are” after the Red Bull driver came under fire for his aggression at the Mexican Grand Prix.
It comes after Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton pleaded for Verstappen to “act like a World Champion” following a clash between the pair in Hungary earlier in the F1 2024 season.
Zak Brown issues Max Verstappen plea as F1 2024 title battle heats up
Verstappen was hit with two separate 10-second penalties for incidents with McLaren driver Lando Norris during the race in Mexico City.
The first incident on Lap 10 saw Verstappen edge Norris off the circuit as the McLaren driver tried to pass him around the outside of Turn 4.
The second came just a few corners later, when Verstappen launched an aggressive move down Norris’s inside at the fast Turn 7, with both drivers taking to the run-off area and the Red Bull rejoining ahead.
Verstappen was forced to sit stationary for 20 seconds during his pit stop and ultimately came home sixth, his joint-worst classified result of the F1 2024 season.
Norris, meanwhile, finished second to the race-winning Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, reducing Verstappen’s World Championship lead to 47 points with four rounds remaining.
Brown, whose McLaren team lead the Constructors’ Championship by 29 points from Ferrari entering this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, feels Verstappen does not need to such “unnecessary” tactics in racing situations.
And he has urged the reigning three-time World Champion to tidy up his act on track, telling Viaplay: “Max is such a great racer, I just don’t think you have to drive like that.
“Just drive like the world champion you are!”
“It’s unnecessary, it endangers everyone and it’s not a clean race. That’s why I found the penalties very appropriate.
“Hats off to the FIA stewards and let’s have clean and tough racing for the rest of the year.”
Brown’s latest comments come after he declared “enough is enough” in the immediate aftermath off the Mexican GP, telling Sky F1 of his desire to see “some good, clean racing moving forward.”
The McLaren boss’s view was shared by Sky F1 commentator Martin Brundle, who warned that Verstappen risks harming his legacy with his “dangerous driving” and unsportsmanlike attitude.
Brundle said: “I know that Max doesn’t care what anybody thinks, but it saddens me when he drives like that.
“He’s a multiple champion, has more driving talent in his little finger than most of us ever had, but his legacy will be tainted by this sporting attitude and that’s a shame.”
Verstappen’s conduct previously came under scrutiny at July’s Hungarian Grand Prix, where he fumed at his Red Bull team over team radio during a challenging race before colliding with Hamilton in the closing stages of the race.
The Dutchman went on to tell his critics to “f**k off” during his post-race media duties.
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com ahead of the following round at Spa, Hamilton claimed Verstappen’s behaviour in Budapest was not befitting of a World Champion.
He said: “You have to be a team leader, a team member.
“Maybe not such a team leader but just always remember you’re a team-mate with lots of people and you have to act like a World Champion.”
Asked to explain what acting like a World Champion entails, he laughed: “That’s a good question! Not like it was last weekend.”
Hamilton, who finished fourth in Mexico last weekend, admitted that he instinctively “knew” Verstappen was at the centre of controversy after seeing a commotion ahead of him on track.
He told media including PlanetF1.com: “I could see a group of cars ahead and I saw a plume of smoke, of dust.”
“And I knew it was [him]. I knew it must have been [him]. [I was] like: ‘For sure, that’s him!’”
Hamilton has been a vocal critic of Verstappen’s aggressive driving over recent years, having clashed with the Red Bull driver on a number of occasions over the course of their title battle in 2021.
Speaking after an intense race with Verstappen at the penultimate round of that season in Saudi Arabia, Hamilton described his rival as “over the limit.”
He said: “I have raced a lot of drivers in my 28 years of racing, I have come across a lot of characters. There’s a few that are over the limit, the rules don’t apply.
“He’s over the limit for sure. I have avoided collision on so many occasions with the guy. I don’t mind being the one who does that because you get to live another day.”
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