Max Verstappen has acknowledged that his controversial collision with George Russell at the recent Spanish Grand Prix was “not right.” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also confirmed that the driver apologized to the team for the incident.
The contact between Verstappen and Russell occurred with just three laps remaining as they were competing for fourth place. They made contact at Turn Five, shortly after the Red Bull driver had been instructed by his team to allow Russell to pass.
Following the clash, the race stewards issued Verstappen a 10-second time penalty. This dropped him from fifth position down to tenth in the final standings. Additionally, three penalty points were added to his super licence, bringing him to within a single point of an automatic race ban.
Russell described the move as feeling “deliberate” and “totally unnecessary.” Former F1 world champion Nico Rosberg commented that, in his opinion, Verstappen should have been “black flagged” for his actions.
Verstappen shared his perspective on Instagram, stating, “We had an exciting strategy and a good race in Barcelona, until the Safety Car came out.”
He continued, “Our tire choice for the end of the race and some maneuvers after the safety car restart fueled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn`t have happened.”
“I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high. You win some together, you lose some together. See you in Montreal.”
Christian Horner also took to social media to discuss the race outcome. “The Safety Car came out at the worst possible time for our strategy,” he wrote. “We had the choice to stay out on older tires or take the gamble with a new set of hard tires.”
Horner added, “Hindsight is always 20/20, but we made the best decision at the time with the information we had. The result that followed was frustrating as it was looking to be an easy podium for Max and good Championship points.”
He confirmed, “Max apologized in the debrief for his incident with Russell. The SC also hurt Yuki`s race; he would have been very close if not in the points otherwise if you look at the trajectory he was on.”
Horner concluded, “But that`s racing. It can turn in a split second. It is one of the reasons we are all so captivated and in love with this sport. It was a tough weekend, but we will be busy working hard over the next weeks to make some set-up improvements to the car and come back strong in Montreal.”
According to the original article, Verstappen trails championship leader Oscar Piastri by 49 points; Piastri reportedly won the Spanish Grand Prix.
Immediately after the race, the Dutch driver, who did eventually let Russell through later in that lap, was hesitant to discuss the incident. When asked about it, he responded, “Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race rather than one single moment.”
What Russell Said About the Incident
George Russell commented on the incident:
I was as surprised as you guys were. I`ve seen those sort of maneuvers before on simulator games and go-karting but never in F1.
Ultimately we came home in P4 and he came home in P10. I don`t really know what was going through his mind.
It felt deliberate in the moment, so it felt surprising.
Background of the Clash
Verstappen was positioned to finish third behind the two McLaren cars before a Safety Car intervention, triggered by Kimi Antonelli`s stranded Mercedes, compressed the field.
Red Bull chose to fit Verstappen with hard tires, as they had no other new tire options available, while most other drivers in the top 10 opted for soft tires during their pit stops.
On the Safety Car restart, Verstappen suffered a significant snap of oversteer coming out of the final corner. This allowed Charles Leclerc to overtake him, resulting in brief contact between their cars.
Russell also attempted to overtake Verstappen at Turn 1. The two cars touched, and Verstappen cut across the chicane, managing to initially hold onto fourth place.
Red Bull then instructed Verstappen to let Russell pass. This directive appeared to further aggravate the already frustrated reigning world champion.
Christian Horner explained after the race, “Based on recent experience and looking at recent incidents… it looked for all intents and purposes that it was going to be a penalty.”
He continued, “Therefore, the instruction was given to Max to give that place back, which he was obviously upset about and annoyed about because he felt that one: he`d been left no space and two: that George hadn`t been fully in control.”
“After a conversation with his engineer, he elected to give the space back at Turn 5. There was contact between the two cars.”
“Obviously the stewards deemed that he caused a collision and got 10 seconds and some penalty points, unfortunately, which obviously was very frustrating because it leaves us with one point out of the afternoon, what should have been an easy podium.”
