World champion Lewis Hamilton has questioned Max Verstappen's maturity.
A controversy broke out after the Bahrain Grand Prix, where Hamilton called his Dutch rival a "dickhead" following a clash.
Sebastian Vettel leapt to the defence of Hamilton's "human" reaction, and even Verstappen agreed.
"At the moment he said that, he was still full of adrenaline," Verstappen, 20, told Het Laaste Nieuws. "He'd just got out of the car. So it happens."
However, Verstappen's boss Christian Horner had gone a step further, saying that racing incidents are exactly what fans want to see.
"It's interesting to hear that from Christian because they've got a car that should be getting good results," Hamilton said.
"And I don't know if they're inexperienced or not totally mature decisions, but [Red Bull] are not getting the results they should."
"I think to myself if Fernando [Alonso] was in that car he would have finished a decent race and got points for Red Bull."
The championship continues on Sunday with the Chinese Grand Prix.
