How Verstappen and Russell reflect on latest clash

Not for the first time, Max Verstappen and George Russell have come to blows, with Spain their latest flashpoint.

The pair have history, but the controversy surrounding them in the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix has the spotlight solely on Verstappen.

The Red Bull and Mercedes stars first went wheel-to-wheel at Turn 1, fighting for fourth on the road.

As Verstappen took to the run off, Red Bull asked Verstappen to let Russell through.

It was a request the reigning champion did not take to kindly, and in a deliberate move that appeared in protest of the situation and possibly the current racing rules, Verstappen viciously veered into the Mercedes at Turn 5.

After contact, a much more peaceful switchover finally took place six corners later.

Verstappen was penalised and saw a potential podium turn to a lowly 10th.

Verstappen was asked if the move was deliberate post-race race and the words he did not use appeared to speak louder than his response as he avoided the question from Rachel Brooks on SkyF1.

“Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race rather than just one single moment,” Verstappen said.

Instantly, Nico Rosberg, subbing for Martin Brundle on the SkyF1 broadcast, believed it was deliberate and he should be disqualified like Michael Schumacher at Jerez in 1997 when the Ferrari driver was scrubbed from the entire championship.

Russell agreed that if it was deliberate, Verstappen should have been excluded.

“If it was truly deliberate, then absolutely (he should have been disqualified)” Russell said.

“Because you cannot deliberately crash into another driver. We’re putting our lives on the line. 

“We’re fortunate the cars are as safe as they are these days, but we shouldn’t take it for granted. It’s down to the stewards to determine if it’s deliberate or not.”

On the incident itself, Russell was shocked as he thought Verstappen had backed off to let him through.

“I was as surprised as you guys were. It felt very deliberate, to be honest,” he said.

“I’ve seen these manoeuvres before on simulator games and in go-karting, but never in F1.

“It’s a bit of a shame because Max is one of the best drivers in the world. But manoeuvres like that are just totally unnecessary and sort of let him down.

“It’s a shame that something like that continues to occur. It seems totally unnecessary and it never seems to benefit himself.

“You go to Imola with one of the best moves of all-time, then this happens. It cost him and his team a lot of points. Charles and I actually dropped off like a stone on those last two laps.

“It’s a shame for all the young kids looking up, aspiring to be Formula 1 drivers. So as I said, I don’t know what he was thinking. 

“In the end, I’m not going to lose sleep over it because I ultimately benefited from those antics.”

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner did not go too much into the incident itself, but knew Verstappen was “annoyed” about Red Bull’s request.

“George obviously tried to capitalise on that into Turn 1 and it was very, very marginal. On recent experience and looking at recent incidents, obviously it’s subjective,” Horner said.

“You’ve asked for guidance from the FIA, from the referee. Essentially, there’s nothing come back. You can see that it’s been reported, it’s going to the stewards.

“It looked for all intents and purposes that it was going to be a penalty. So, 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.

So, after a conversation with his engineer, he elected to give the place back at Turn 5, (and) 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.

“It obviously was very frustrating, because it leaves us with one point when it should have been an easy podium.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff did not want to jump to conclusions, but thought it had a hint of the infamous 2021 title battle.

“We were under the impression in the race that he had a problem with the car, and that’s why he was so slow getting out of Turn 4,” he said.

“I mean, if it was road rage, which I can’t imagine, because it was too obvious, then it’s not good. But the thing is, I don’t know what he aimed for. 

“Did he want to let George pass and immediately repass, put George the car ahead? Then, like the old DRS games, letting him pass the right way?

“Or… for me, it’s just incomprehensible. But again, I don’t know exactly what the motivations were, and I don’t want to jump on it and saying, you know, this was road rage, et cetera. Let’s see what his arguments are. It wasn’t nice.

“There’s a pattern that I’ve read, the great ones, whether it’s in motor racing or in other sports, you just need to have the world against you and perform at the highest possible level.

“We haven’t seen any of these moments with Max for many years now. Obviously, I know the year 2021 happened and I don’t know where it comes from.”

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

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