Max Verstappen: Jacques Villeneuve should watch what he says, because he killed someone

Villeneuve gave an interview to motorsport.com in which he joined the long queue of drivers past and present who have criticised the Dutch teenager, saying that, "what he did to Kimi [Raikkonen] twice on the straight, and to [Sebastian] Vettel as well. Just calm down. You're going to kill someone.”

Verstappen was asked about the criticism ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, and hit back in forthright fashion.

"He should watch a little with his statements that someone dies, because he himself has killed someone," said Verstappen, referring to the race marshal who died at the Australian Grand Prix in 2001 when hit by debris from Villeneuve's car.

"He has to look at himself. I think what he says is not respectful to the family of the deceased marshal."

Villeneuve, a former F1 champion, also claimed that Verstappen had only avoided punishment for his aggressive approach - including the incident which ended the hopes of the two Ferraris at the first corner of the Belgian Grand Prix - because he has set the sport alight.

"It looks like he's got protection. They want him to be a star, " said Villeneuve, adding that his problem with what happened at the first corner in Belgium was as much about Verstappen's reaction than it was about the incident itself.

“Mostly if you had a bad start, just accept it. But that is not what's bad. It's after that, he complains about other drivers: 'They destroyed my race'," he added.

"Relax, relax. You know you took a big risk [by going up the inside] and it did not pay off. You destroyed their race and you destroyed your own race. That's fine. That's life."

Villeneuve also said that while it's "fine" for Verstappen not to care about ruffling a few feathers, "drivers should have respect among each other. Good, hard, fair racing, like Kimi said.

"You know, racing hard is great. But have some respect. You can't just push people off. Or make them have to brake on the straight. That's super, super, super dangerous. Twenty years ago drivers fixed it among themselves.”