Formula One witnessed one of its most fiery disputes boil over on Sunday night when Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo all clashed during the Mexico Grand Prix, leading to the Ferrari driver telling race director Charlie Whiting to “f*** off” and both Vettel and Verstappen lose third place due to post-race penalties.

The furious episode was a result of months’ worth of arguing between Vettel and Verstappen, with the four-time world champion furious with the 19-year-old’s defensive tactics this season. Ricciardo, who remains one of the friendliest and jovial characters on the grid, was dragged into their dispute at the weekend, and emerged with a surprise podium finish even if he didn’t get to taste the champagne on the famous rostrum that takes place in the stadium section of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

But what was the cause behind Sunday’s fireworks that led to Vettel’s stunning, foul-mouthed attack on Whiting – the 64-year-old race director with over 20 years’ experience in the paddock – and his eventual demotion?

The start of the issue can be traced back to the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Verstappen was locked in a battle for fifth position with Vettel’s Ferrari teammate, Kimi Raikkonen. Verstappen moved to the inside of turn two to cover off the veteran Finn, who had already made his move to try and pass the teenager. They collided, and Raikkonen came off the worse as Verstappen insisted he did nothing wrong. Raikkonen did not agree.

"It's pointless to have rules if they don't apply all the time, for all the people," Raikkonen said. "For me, he moved once right, I decided to go left but once the other guy moves back, I did everything I could to avoid any contact.

"Once I decided to go somewhere, you cannot just come there. It is good that I managed to somehow half-miss him.”

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Fast-forward a week and Verstappen’s antics were brought up in the drivers’ briefing ahead of the German Grand Prix, where Nico Robserg would make a lunge up the inside of Verstappen and receive a penalty from the stewards for making contact with the Dutchman. Rosberg pleaded his innocence and admitted he was surprised to receive a sanction, but asked if Verstappen’s driving had made him second-guess the move, Rosberg said: "For sure, that made it more difficult. It was discussed on Friday that we're supposed to try to avoid that."

A month later after the summer break, Verstappen and Raikkonen were at it again, this time at the Belgian Grand Prix. Raikkonen tried repeatedly to pass Verstappen at the end of the Kemmel Straight, but with the pair colliding at the first corner along with Vettel, Verstappen was in no mood to yield. Raikkonen took to his radio to claim "his only interest is pushing me off the circuit completely" and label Verstappen’s defensive moves as “f***ing ridiculous”, but Verstappen hit back to claim Vettel was at fault for ruining all of their races after turning in on Raikkonen and Verstappen at turn one.

The Italian and Singapore Grand Prixs all passed without major incident, although Verstappen looked to have suffered mentally from the criticism as he could not match the pace of his Red Bull teammate Ricciardo. However, things heated up once again in Malaysia when Vettel launched an ill-advised move up the inside of Verstappen into turn one that saw him collect both the Red Bull and championship leader Nico Rosberg, with Vettel retiring with broken suspension and receiving a three-place gird penalty for Japan as a result.

Verstappen immediately said on the radio: “Sebastian is crazy. Crashed into Rosberg like an idiot.” Vettel, in no mood to discuss Verstappen’s complaint, responded: “He’s moving around, I think everybody knows by now. If anything I was braking at the same point as (Verstappen) so I was going side-by-side and he was squeezing me down to the inside”

The relationship between Verstappen and Vettel has deteriorated over the second half of the season (Getty)

Come Japan, it was Verstappen’s name being brought up in the stewards’ room once again. With a recovering Lewis Hamilton charging after him, Verstappen fended off the reigning champion with a move to the inside as they approached the chicane. Hamilton was forced to take the outside line, couldn’t make the corner and his chance at second place was gone.

Mercedes lodged an appeal against Verstappen’s move, but Hamilton insisted he had no problem with it and it was soon withdrawn. That said, Verstappen’s move had caught the eye of Vettel, and when they began their duel in Mexico, Vettel finally saw red. Irate with Verstappen cutting the first chicane and appearing to gain an advantage, only to go against his team’s suggestion of handing the place to Vettel, the German simply exploded inside his cockpit.

Vettel has not been impressed with Verstappen's defensive driving (Getty)

“He [Verstappen] is a c***,” Vettel shouted. “Am I the only one, or are you not seeing what I'm seeing? He's just backing me off into Ricciardo.

“Move, move for f***'s sake. He cut the chicane. He has to give me the position. End of the story.

Told that Whiting had given no instruction for Verstappen to give up the place, Vettel replied: “Yeah? Here's a message to Charlie: f*** off. Honestly, f*** off.”

Verstappen after the race criticised Vettel for his language and claimed “he needs to go back to school” in order to learn some manners and control his in-car outbursts on the radio, which have become more frequent as the season has worn on.

A much calmer Vettel responded by stressing he likes Verstappen and “redefining the limits”, but did state that he needs to calm down.

Somewhat surprisingly, even Ricciardo waded into the row, and given his desire to race hard and even welcome minimal contact between cars, it was telling that the Red Bull team were not impressed with Vettel’s antics on shutting the door on the Australian as he tried to pass at turn four.

It remains to be seen if Vettel is sanctioned for his attack on Whiting and his repeated swearing, with the FIA open to sanction the German for bring the sport into disrepute. Vettel has spoken to Whiting about what he said, and although he refused to confirm that he had apologised, it’s believed that the Ferrari driver said sorry at the earliest opportunity.