The end of the Spanish Grand Prix was truly fiery, and not just because of the high temperatures in Barcelona. The main talking point was the contact that occurred just a few laps from the end between George Russell and Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver, who had gambled on a three-stop strategy, found himself on hard tyres on his RB21 (he had no softs left unlike his rivals) at the restart following the Safety Car triggered by an engine failure on Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes.
When the race resumed, the four-time world champion lost the rear at the final corner, and Charles Leclerc and Russell took the opportunity to attack. There was slight contact with the Mercedes driver under braking for Turn 1, with Max running through the escape road and rejoining ahead of George.
At that point, the pit wall instructed him to give the position back (another mistake, as the stewards later said they would not have taken action), and a bit of the “old-style” Max Verstappen resurfaced: after giving the impression he would let George Russell through at Turn 5, he accelerated again and the two made contact. The move ultimately earned him a 10-second penalty, which dropped him from fifth to tenth place at the finish, while the Briton crossed the line in fourth.
But above all, it was a move that left Russell very puzzled: “I was surprised, probably just as you were. I’ve seen these kinds of moves from karting all the way to Formula 1, but in the end I finished fourth and he finished tenth, so I don’t know what was going through his head. It seemed intentional at the time, so yes, it was a bit surprising.”
When asked whether a black flag would have been more appropriate than a ten-second penalty, he continued: “It’s not up to me to say. It’s up to the stewards to decide whether it was intentional or not, but obviously Max is an exceptional driver and a lot of people admire him, so it’s a shame these kinds of things keep happening. It seems completely unnecessary and doesn’t really help him either.”
As president of the GPDA, the drivers’ association, he was also asked whether action should be taken against a colleague capable of pulling off spectacular moves—like his overtake on Oscar Piastri at the start in Imola—while also engaging in this kind of misconduct, which doesn’t suit a champion of his stature.
“I’m too involved to give my opinion on behalf of the drivers. I mean, in Imola he pulled off one of the best moves we’ve seen in quite a while. And then this happens. As I said, it cost him and his team a lot of points. Especially because Leclerc and I were struggling in the final two laps, so he probably could have rejoined the fight for the podium. But I’m not going to lose sleep over it, because we’ve got our own problems to solve—namely, trying to make our car faster,” he concluded.
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