Christian Horner, Red Bull Team Principal, was asked about the comments Hamilton made during the Saudi Arabia GP saying that Verstappen was “crazy”.

“He’s certainly not crazy,” Horner said to The Times.  

“You’ve got two guys, different ages, going for the biggest prize in motorsport, Lewis is 36 and going for his eighth world title. Max is attempting to win his first.”

"I think Lewis has an enormous amount of experience; he is using all of that. He's a wily competitor.”

Horner is unhappy with the alleged inconsistency of stewarding decisions, too. 

"It's frustrating. There's been some confusion. Some incidents get punished, some go unpunished. Max does tend to get the harsher verdict, particularly when you look back at the weekend."

“... Max had clearly lifted off and had gone down through the gears, to [a speed] slower than the slowest corner of the circuit, yet Lewis didn’t want to overtake, because he didn’t want to be the first to cross the DRS line.”

“He was desperately trying to avoid overtaking Max, who had been instructed to let him pass by the stewards, or by the race director and therefore by the team.”

The Red Bull boss said he is really proud of Max and his achievements during this season:

"Max has been totally consistent from race one." 

"He'll go wheel to wheel with any driver. He drives with his heart on his sleeve.”

"Look at his restart [in Saudi Arabia]. Look at some of his passes this year. He has shown enormous bravery and commitment. That is the kind of driver that he is. That's why we love him.”

Verstappen was voted the most popular driver of the grid in a survey, especially for the younger fans.

"That's why he has the following that he does in the sport. That’s why in an independent survey he was voted the most popular driver, the most exciting driver in Formula 1.”

"Without that approach, without that DNA, Max Verstappen wouldn't be the driver that he is today. His instinct is to go for it; always has been and hopefully always will be."

When Horner was asked about the possibility of Max taking out Lewis to win the championship he insisted that Max wants to win the right and clean way.

"We’ve already had numerous discussions about it.”

"He's a hard racer but a fair racer, and I expect no different this weekend. Nobody wants to win this championship in a gravel trap or in a stewards' inquiry. 

"To finish first, first you've got to finish. That's been our mantra throughout this season. Remember, it wasn't Max who crashed into Lewis at Silverstone. The stewards found Lewis guilty of driving into Max.”

Lewis was handed a 10 second penalty for their collision at Silverstone.

"They've both had their moments this year. Inevitably the reverse was found at Monza. They've been hard races. They've gone wheel to wheel.” 

Verstappen received a three-place grid penalty for the Russian Grand Prix for this situation.

"But I think, for all the fans, you want to see a fair and clean fight in this last round and may the best team and best driver win."

Verstappen and Hamilton are both headed to the last race of the season tied in points, the last time this happened was in 1974 when Emerson Fittipaldi won his 2nd drivers' championship.