Max Verstappen has admitted his controversial clash with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix was `not right`. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed his driver apologised to the team following the incident.
Verstappen and Russell collided at Turn Five with three laps remaining while battling for fourth place. The contact occurred after the Red Bull driver had been instructed by his team to let Russell through.
The stewards issued Verstappen a 10-second time penalty for the incident, which caused him to drop from fifth to 10th position. Additionally, he received three penalty points on his super licence, leaving him just one point away from an automatic race ban.
George Russell, speaking to Sky Sports F1, stated that the move “felt deliberate” and was “totally unnecessary.” 2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg suggested Verstappen should have been shown a “black flag” for the incident.
Verstappen commented on Instagram, saying, “We had an exciting strategy and good race in Barcelona, until the Safety Car came out.”
“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,” he continued.
“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 shared his thoughts on social media: “The Safety Car came out at the worst possible time for our strategy. We had the choice to stay out on older tyres or take the gamble with a new set of hard tyres.”
“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.”
Horner added, “Max apologised in the debrief for his incident with Russell. The SC also hurt Yuki [Tsunoda`s] race, he would`ve been very close if not in the points otherwise if you look at the trajectory he was on.”
“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.”
Verstappen is currently 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, who won the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Dutch driver, who eventually allowed Russell to pass him later on the same lap, was reluctant to discuss the incident immediately after the race.
He told Sky Sports F1: “Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race rather than one single moment.”
What did Russell say about the incident?
George Russell speaking to Sky Sports F1 on the incident:
“I was as surprised as you guys were. I`ve seen those sort of manoeuvres 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.”
What led to Verstappen`s clash with Russell?
Verstappen was positioned to finish third behind the two McLarens until a Safety Car period, triggered by Kimi Antonelli`s stranded Mercedes, compressed the field.
Red Bull opted to put Verstappen on hard tyres for the finish, as they had no other new options available, while most drivers in the top 10 fitted soft tyres.
Verstappen experienced significant oversteer leaving the final corner on the Safety Car restart and was overtaken by Charles Leclerc, with whom he had brief contact.
Russell also attempted a pass at Turn 1, resulting in contact, after which Verstappen cut the chicane to initially maintain fourth place.
Red Bull then instructed Verstappen to yield the position to Russell, an instruction that appeared to increase the reigning world champion`s frustration.
Horner explained the team`s perspective after the race: “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.”
“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.”
“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.”
Marcus Prine