At a time his Father - Max, the originator of the infamous 'Verstappen-slappen - warns the title fight with Lewis Hamilton could boil over, Max appears to be taking a more philosophical approach.

"If I look at the shoulder brush they gave each other after qualifying at Imola, I think we can expect something this year", Verstappen Snr told Ziggo Sport's Jack van Gelder. "They are both men who do not want to be inferior to each other. Neither of them will let the other push them aside, especially if it will be more and more about the title.

"I think it's going to be an intense and beautiful year," he added.

However, Max, who in his first few seasons earned a deserved reputation for his hot-headed style, appears to be taking a 'softly, softly' approach to the title fight.

"I don't think you lose speed," he told reporters in Portimao. "It's just choosing your moments when to shine."

"I mean, you have to understand that if it's not your day," he continued, "then you have to settle for a certain result.

"Whereas in the past, we had sometimes a car where we could win races, but we knew we were not in a championship fight so you might risk it a bit more," he admitted. "Of course, when you are in a championship fight, or at least you know that you have a car which can be competitive more often, your approach does change a little bit because you cannot afford to lose too many points in a weekend where, let's say, you're not at your top level.

"So I think that's what we always have to make sure that even if we don't have a perfect weekend, we still score a lot of points.

"I just want to do the best job possible every single weekend and, of course, try to make the least mistakes possible," said the youngster. "I always feel confident. It's nothing to do with if you win a race or not.

"I just hope we are very competitive as the last two races, but yeah, every single weekend you just have to make sure you are on top of the car, because it's so close between us and Mercedes you really do have to get on top of the car to make a difference

"And that's what we'll do this weekend."

Check out our Friday gallery from Portimao, here.