Max Verstappen is taking "unwarranted criticism" from top drivers

After receiving criticism for his driving after the Mexican Grand Prix, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has come out to defend the Max Verstappen's race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, saying the Dutchman's driving was aggressive but also fair.

The 22-year-old got tangled up with Lewis Hamilton at the opening chicane of last weekend's race, with both star drivers ending on the grass. Hamilton dropped down to fifth but ended up winning the race, with Verstappen going down to eighth place, right behind Valtteri Bottas.

On the contact at the start, Palmer actually thinks Hamilton was more at fault than Verstappen, despite the five-time champion pinning it on the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver.

"In reality, Verstappen's race was actually almost blameless," the former Renault driver wrote in his BBC Sport F1 column.

"Actually, it was Hamilton who was bold in trying to pass Verstappen around the outside at the start. Hamilton ended up getting into a massive slide all on his own, and that forced Verstappen off on to the grass at Turn Three, along with the Mercedes.

"This wasn't anything more than plain, hard racing. So finger-pointing at Verstappen post-race is just unfair. Verstappen was actually the innocent victim in that incident, which demoted him from his fourth place at the start down to eighth."

Bottas agreed with his teammate about Verstappen's aggressive driving as the Finn got surprised by a lunge from him in lap at the stadium section. The move looked clean but Bottas punctured the RB15's rear right tyre with his front wing, practically finishing Verstappen's race. 

While Bottas pinned the incident on the Dutchman, Palmer again thinks this is unfair, although the move was an optimistic one.

"Verstappen's move on Bottas consigned him to a race of recovery, but there was nothing wrong with that.

"It was a lovely overtake and - again - good, hard racing. Yes, it was aggressive, but Bottas has no right to be complaining about it."

Verstappen finished the race in sixth place, while Bottas ended on the podium in P3 after starting in sixth.