Max Verstappen has been "very fair and professional" in his on-track battles while defending his Formula 1 title this season, according to Martin Brundle.
The Dutchman became world champion for the first time last year, eventually snatching the crown from Lewis Hamilton in controversial circumstances. Even before that acrimonious ending, things got heated between them as they gave everything to be the one to come out on top.
Verstappen in particular came in for some stick for what some people felt were overly-aggressive moves when defending against the Mercedes man. One such incident came at the Brazilian Grand Prix, when the Red Bull star was accused of forcing his rival off-track when trying to stop an overtake.
After another incident in Saudi Arabia, a furious Hamilton claimed Verstappen was one of the most "over the limit" drivers he had ever come across in his racing career. "I've avoided collision on so many occasions with the guy," he said. "I don't always mind being the one that does that, because you live to fight another day."
Former racer and long-time pundit Brundle believes the Dutchman has matured and has driven much more cleanly so far this year, with Charles Leclerc now his main title rival. "Max once again was very fair and professional in his driving and defence," he wrote in his Sky Sports F1 column recapping the Austrian Grand Prix.
"Generally he is this year, albeit very much pushing the limits in his defence against Mick Schumacher the week before at Silverstone. I remember commenting in Jeddah last year Michael Schumacher's, and to an extent Ayrton Senna's amazing legacies are partly diminished by some dirty driving, and that Max would do well to avoid that career reputation."
Brundle did go on to suggest, though, that his driving style might change back to how it was if the title race becomes a tight scrap once again. "It will be interesting to see how that goes if push literally comes to shove in the championship," he added.
Even after Leclerc's victory at the Red Bull Ring, the Ferrari race is still 38 points adrift of Verstappen at the top of the drivers' standings.
The defending champion will hope that his cushion remains at least as comfortable by the time F1 reaches the summer break, but if the Monegasque were to win the two races between now and then, it would set up another potentially nail-biting final few months of the season.
