has encouraged Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren's drivers to take advantage of 's penalty point predicament at the next two races. The reigning world champion is only one point away from an automatic one-race suspension, which would have devastating consequences for his title defence.

at the Spanish Grand Prix last time out, and must now navigate the coming two race weekends with no blots on his record, before some points are removed from his 12-month tally. The Dutchman is in a difficult position, though. With 49 points separating him and championship leader Oscar Piastri, Verstappen can ill afford to roll over and let his rivals through, even if the best possible scenario seems to be regular third-place finishes behind the two McLaren cars at the moment.

According to Brundle, this is something the likes of Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell should be looking to exploit. "He's an aggressive driver," the Sky Sports F1 pundit said after FP1 at the Canadian Grand Prix.

"He was from the get-go in Formula One, and that's how he rock and rolls. You can't cherry-pick the bits you like about a sports person; that's how Max goes racing, and he's won the last four World Championships.

"And he would say 'Tell me exactly which bit of that is completely wrong'. That's how he is. He's got such amazing car control that he can place his car - he knows the rules. He chances his luck, and more and more, he's starting to lose out on that.

"But if I was a Mercedes, Ferrari, particularly a McLaren driver, I'd be goading him to get those extra [penalty] points. Because I think subconsciously, he knows he's got to be a touch more careful."

One driver has already pledged to keep the pressure on. Not content with his already stretched relationship with Verstappen, Mercedes star on Thursday.

"We have to be smart and use it to our advantage," he stated. "I'm going to continue racing exactly the same because at the end of the day, that's what I did last week, and I benefited from it.

"And as we said, if you do keep driving like that, you'll accumulate your points and you'll get punished. Ultimately, he got punished for it. So, from my side, kind of long may it continue and for a neutral, it spices things up a little bit."