Max Verstappen hits out at criticism of his 2018 Formula 1 season
A defiant Max Verstappen says he is so tired of questions about his crash-filled 2018 Formula 1 campaign that he will likely "headbutt" somebody if he is asked much more
Verstappen has either spun, crashed or been involved in a collision at some point during every grand prix weekend this season so far.
His latest practice crash in Monaco, which put Verstappen at the back of the grid, left him facing calls from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to rethink his approach.
But ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen made clear he was unimpressed by both those pleas for him to calm down and by media questions about his accidents.
"You know, I get really tired of all the comments of me that I should change my approach," said Verstappen, who recovered to finish in the points in Monaco.
"I will never do that because it has brought me to where I am right now, and after the race it is not the right time to talk.
"Everybody who has those comments, I don't listen to it anyway. I just do my own thing.
"Of course the beginning of the year so far, it hasn't been going that well and not in the way that I liked it.
"A few mistakes, especially Monaco and China, but it doesn't make sense to keep talking about it because I get really tired of it.
"It feels like there are no better questions out there than keep asking me about what happened in the previous weekend. So I am just focusing on what is ahead, and I am confident that I can turn things around.
"The speed is there. I have always been quick every single weekend. It would be much more of a problem if I would be really slow, because that is a critical problem."
When pushed further to explain why he had crashed so much this year, Verstappen replied: "Like I said I get a bit tired of all the questions. If I get a few more I will headbutt someone."
Verstappen believes his 2018 incidents have been spun up into an unnecessarily big story.
"Two [incidents] were my fault, but I had three in one weekend in 2016 in Monaco," he added. "It is not that dramatic as people say it is.
"Of course I haven't scored the points I should have scored, but it is not only my fault.
"It could have been better but everybody makes it so dramatic."
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