Sergio Perez stands by criticism of Pastor Maldonado

The Mexican admitted that emotion got the better of him in the immediate aftermath of the crash - which caused him to retire - when he angrily called for the FIA to take action against the Williams driver. But Perez still feels that Maldonado must change his approach.

"It was an unnecessary crash," he said. "I was very angry at that moment and probably said things that I would not have liked to have said, but it is already said now, so in the end I still share my opinions from last time."

Asked if he was presented with the same situation again whether he would elect to pass the Venezuelan in the same manner around the outside, given that he has now had two collisions with him, Perez replied: "You have to attack in Formula 1 these days, you don't have that many opportunities. So if you have the opportunity you have to take it.

"Pastor was driving in a very aggressive way, more than aggressive, so I think now he will change his style because he is a very intelligent driver and a quick driver. That's why he is in F1.

"He probably has realised that he has given away too many points because of this aggression."

When informed that Maldonado has stated that he has no intention of changing his style, Perez added: "In my opinion I think he should not change his style, but he should think about why he is getting so many reprimands and so many penalties, but in the end it is up to him to decide and if he wants to keep it that way then I respect it."

Perez believes that the collision cost him a strong result at Silverstone.

"It's always very difficult to know but we definitely had a very good pace and we were quite competitive, probably we could have fought for the top five for sure," he said. "Then from then on you never know, maybe the podium was reachable, but we were in a good position."

Maldonado for his part remains unrepentant in spite of three incidents in the last four races involving another car (twice with Perez's Sauber).

Perez indicated that he would speak to Maldonado during this weekend's drivers' briefing, but Maldonado felt that the air had already been cleared when the two met in the stewards office at Silverstone - where he received a 10,000 euro fine and a second reprimand.

"We spoke for two or three minutes when we went to the stewards," said Maldonado. "All clear. Everybody saw that I lost the car and it was nothing intentional - even him.

"But we have been big contenders in the past, especially GP2 and here again. I understand his point; he was hungry, he lost the race but on the other side I lost my race as well. I am not here to do polemics. I am here to race, to win, to put my team at the top and to work hard with them. It doesn't matter what the other drivers are saying."