Max Verstappen hit with fresh accusation at Brazilian GP as Red Bull ace doubles down

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has accused of 'using fear and intimidation' during his media day interviews at the . The Dutchman doubled down on claims of 'British bias' after he was heavily criticised for his driving in Mexico.

Verstappen picked up two 10-second time penalties for incidents at Turn Four and Turn Eight on the same lap at the Mexican Grand Prix, in which he shoved Lando Norris wide and off the race track.

One of the stewards in Mexico - and who is also present in Brazil - was Johnny Herbert, who had called out Verstappen for his language in the Singapore Grand Prix press conference earlier this season. The three-time world champion hit back in Interlagos on Thursday.

Responding to Verstappen's bold comments, Hill was unimpressed. "I think that he's using fear and intimidation," he told Sky Sports F1 on Friday. "He also has explained a little bit more about his tactics which has been that he regards it as a gamble.

"Sometimes it may pay off, sometimes he may get the better of the stewards, they might not apply a penalty. He's also using it as a way of compromising the title contender Lando Norris. So there is some logic, there's some method to his angriness.

"He says he knows what he's doing, but is it right and fair?" He continued: "I think I'm clear about what I understand Max to be. He's been consistent from the moment he arrived in Formula One.

"He was using what was regarded as dangerous tactics, and regulations have been brought in to clear up some of the things that he himself has brought upon himself because of the way he drives. The FIA bring in regulations, obviously, to try and contain it, because they don't want racing like that.

"They don't want dangerous situations as well such as changing the line under a braking area and stuff like that which is what he used to get up to as well. So they added regulations to cover that. When he makes the point about individuals, it's not individuals. It's almost universal disapproval.

"That's the point. It's not a vendetta against Max. It's simply the people who watch the racing want it to be conducted in a reasonable and fair way. If everybody was doing this, it would be daft, it would be silly, and it wouldn't be worth watching.

"We like close racing. We are in Sao Paulo, this is where it all started a little bit in 2021, with him running deep into turn four. And everyone went, hang on a minute, you can't just run the guy clean off the road to defend, and he's still doing it."