Max Verstappen has defended his actions in confronting and shoving Esteban Ocon after the pair clashed at the Brazilian Grand Prix. During a tense press conference at which both drivers were present in Abu Dhabi, the Dutchman insisted that strong emotions were a part of sport and that drivers were not robots.

Verstappen was leading the race in Brazil when Ocon attempted to unlap himself in his Force India. The pair collided and Verstappen span and took damage, losing his place and the race to Lewis Hamilton. The Red Bull driver confronted Ocon in the weigh-in room and the pair exchanged words that led him to repeatedly shove the Frenchman. Verstappen received a two-day community service order from the FIA but defended himself stoutly.

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“We are all here to win and you are in that position, then it gets taken from you. It’s not nice,” he said. “Emotions can then take over and I think it is really normal [to react like that].”

When asked what had been said that provoked him, Verstappen declined to elaborate. “Something I wasn’t expecting to hear,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what it is was. It clearly pissed me off as straight away I was expecting an apology. Maybe with the adrenaline still kicking in from the race then you don’t get the right answer. But we are not robots. We have emotions. We could put robots in the car but I don’t think we want that.

“I thought it was quite a calm response. What do you expect me to do, shake his hand, [say] thank you very much for being second instead of first?”

Ocon wanted to draw a line under the events in the buildup to the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend. “I think we have to move forwards,” he said. “We can’t change the past. I’m sure, even if Max said the opposite, he would like to come back on what he did after the race.”

Verstappen was backed by Sebastian Vettel, however. “We are human beings and emotions go both ways,” he said. “They go full of joy when something good happens and they probably swing the other way if you’re not happy or upset. I think it’s clear that we’re here to fight for something that means the world to us.”