Speaking in the wake of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen’s criticism of Verstappen’s stout defence of fifth place in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Vettel acknowledged the Dutchman’s aggression was a “strength”.

“I think of Max’s strengths is he’s very aggressive, obviously sometimes you overstep the line,” said Vettel.

“I think he will calm down, give him a bit of time. But it’s also one of his strong points – of course, when you are fighting with him and sometimes here or there the car in front is not behaving fair, then it’s not great.

“Kimi is one of the fairest guys in the field, but that’s how it is sometimes. The race is long, the season is long, so I’m sure they’ll meet again.”

Vettel said that he was against handing out too many penalties for on-track incidents that occur in the heat of the moment.

“I’m against the whole policies of penalties and complicated ruling I think it’s silly,” he said. “I think people outside are laughing at us – and that’s something we need to work on.”