MONZA, Italy - Daniel Ricciardo thinks those criticising his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen's driving are forgetting how young the teenager is.

Verstappen's aggressive driving at the Belgian Grand Prix was a major topic of discussion at the Thursday media day at Monza, with Ricciardo and several of his peers clearly frustrated by the repeated questions on the subject. In the FIA press conference Sebastian Vettel said Verstappen needed another talking to at Friday's drivers' briefing.

The 18-year-old angered Vettel and fellow Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen with repeated incidents at Les Combes and more instances of moving under braking. Ricciardo believes it is important to consider Verstappen's age when talking about the incidents.

"You've just got to find a balance, he'll find it," Ricciardo said. "He's obviously still very young, I was nowhere near Formula One at 18 years old so he's already in a different position to me. It'll come with some maturity but at the same time I think the basics for him are in the right place; he wants to fight, he wants to battle and wants to stand his own ground so it's not all that bad."

When asked if constant criticism will actually compound the problem with a teenager's more rebellious streak, Ricciardo agreed.

"Yeah, I think he will if everyone keeps giving him a hard time. I think he will because it's probably just age coming out, I know when I was -- I mean I'm still immature -- but at that age you're going through a lot and you're growing up from a boy to a man, you want to be your own man, so when someone tells you to do something I think your natural reaction is to oppose it.

"I think it's just a bit of that coming out and maybe a bit of frustration after the race, I don't expect it to change night and day this weekend, perhaps it will just be refined over the course of the season."

Ricciardo thinks his own recollections of the first few years in F1 prove its natural for younger drivers to take time to get used to how to race a modern F1 car.

"When I joined Formula One I knew that what I found is that the cars are so much faster and it took me a little while to understand where to always put the car. In racing things start coming up quicker and the slipstream is stronger, so even judging in the mirrors how quick the cars are approaching isn't always easy.

"I don't disagree with Kimi, but I'll give the younger drivers the benefit of the doubt for now and I trust that it will come over time with some age, whether it happens tomorrow or not, I don't know, but yeah, it's not a concern."