Nico Rosberg compares Verstappen-Russell Spain clash to infamous Rossi-Marquez 2015 incident. Nico Rosberg compared Verstappen's clash with Russell in Spain to the infamous 2015 Rossi-Marquez incident.

The comparison
“The first thing that came to mind when I saw what happened between Max Verstappen and George Russell was Valentino Rossi’s move on Marc Marquez in Malaysia in 2015.” This is how Nico Rosberg commented live on Sky Sports UK about the contact between Max Verstappen and George Russell at Turn 5 of the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, a collision for which Max Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty in the Spanish Grand Prix and 3 points on his super license.

The 2016 world champion also immediately added that, in his view, Max Verstappen deserved a black flag — the same penalty mentioned by Casey Stoner in real time during the Rossi-Marquez duel in Sepang. Rossi was penalized with a back-of-the-grid start in Valencia for the final round of the season, and his comeback to fourth place wasn’t enough for the Doctor to win his tenth career world title.

Max Verstappen today admitted on Instagram that he shouldn’t have lost his temper by banging wheels with George Russell: “Some moves after the restart increased my frustration after we’d already made the wrong tyre choice. I made a wrong move, and that shouldn’t have happened. I always give my best, and sometimes emotions can lead to excessive reactions. We win and lose together, see you in Montreal.”