Max Verstappen has admitted his controversial clash with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix was “not right”.
Verstappen and Russell collided with three laps remaining when battling for fourth, making contact at Turn Five, after the Red Bull driver had been told to let Russell through.
The stewards gave Verstappen a 10-second time penalty for the incident, which dropped him from fifth to 10th, while also adding two penalty points on to his super licence – putting him one point away from an automatic race ban.
Russell told Sky Sports F1 that the move “felt deliberate” and was “totally unnecessary” while 2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg says Verstappen should have been “black flagged” for the incident.
Ant Davidson was at the SkyPad to analyse Max Verstappen and George Russell’s collision on the final laps of the Spanish Grand Prix
“We had an exciting strategy and good race in Barcelona, till the safety car came out,” Verstappen wrote on Instagram.
“Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled 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.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen controversially collided with George Russell towards the end of the Spanish Grand Prix – earning himself a 10-second penalty
Verstappen is now 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, who won the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Dutchman, who eventually let Russell through later in the lap, was not keen to speak about the incident post-race.
He told Sky Sports F1: “Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race rather than one single moment.”
Lando Norris reacts to the Max Verstappen-George Russell collision at the Spanish GP
What led to Verstappen’s clash with Russell?
Verstappen was on course to finish third behind the two McLarens until a Safety Car for Kimi Antonelli’s stricken Mercedes bunched the field together.
Red Bull put Verstappen on hard tyres, since they had no other new tyres, whereas everyone else in the top 10 was on softs.
Verstappen had a big snap of oversteer on the restart out of the last corner and was overtaken by Charles Leclerc, who briefly made contact with him.
Mercedes driver George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen gave their thoughts after the pair collided during Sunday’s race
Russell also tried to get through at Turn 1 but the pair touched and Verstappen cut the chicane to keep fourth place.
Red Bull told Verstappen to let Russell through, which appeared to anger the reigning world champion who was already frustrated.
“On recent experience and looking at recent incidents, obviously it’s subjective, you’ve asked for guidance from the FIA, from the referee, essentially there’s nothing come back,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
“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.
Highlights of the Spanish Grand Prix from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
“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.
“I haven’t had a chance to speak to Max from his side, but 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.”
The 2025 Formula 1 season pauses for breath after the European triple-header before resuming live on Sky Sports F1 with the Canadian Grand Prix from June 13-15. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.
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