Sebastian Vettel insisted Max Verstappen is "not young any more" after a reckless overtaking manoeuvre from the Dutchman cost both drivers at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Verstappen - on fresher tyres - ambitiously attempted to go down the inside of championship leader Vettel at Turn 14, hitting the German, who finished the race down in eighth with a damaged sidepod.
The Red Bull driver took fifth after being handed a 10-second penalty and, while measured in his response, Vettel was keen to remind Verstappen, 20, that he was no longer a rookie.
"I didn't see him until very late. I left a little bit of room as well," Vettel told Sky Sports.
"I was expecting him to come earlier. I had no intention to resist because it was clear with Daniel [Ricciardo] as well that there was no point doing so - they were just too quick on the fresh tyres.
"I didn't want to compromise my race to the guys behind. But he made a mistake, locked up - it happens with a tailwind down that straight - I guess he misjudged and compromised both our races.
"He's not young any more. But this can happen when you have done 300 races. Inside the car judgements are very difficult to make.
"But you have to ultimately have these things in mind and make sure you don't crash. We were both lucky."
Verstappen, whose team-mate Ricciardo put on a superb overtaking display to claim victory, accepted full responsibility.
"I don't think I necessarily need to change a lot of things, it's just I need to learn from what happened today," he added.
"I don't think I necessarily need to be less aggressive or anything because it has nothing to do with being overly aggressive.
"Maybe it's just wanting too much and I should just... not even calm down, but maybe oversee the situation a little bit more.
"I was quite good at that before but this year, maybe with the previous two races not going your way, you want to recover points and it's working against you at the moment.
"This is definitely not what I want and it's a life lesson."
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