Red Bull’s costly overreaction: Max Verstappen wouldn’t have been penalised for Turn 1 cut in Spain. Red Bull instructed Verstappen to give up a position after a Turn 1 incident with Russell,.

Too much haste from the pit wall
The day after the Spanish GP, all attention is once again focused on Max Verstappen. Although he did not win, the Dutchman was the main protagonist of the day: first by putting McLaren under pressure with an ultra-aggressive three-stop strategy, then by crossing over to the “dark side” with a clumsy move on George Russell at Turn 5. That collision wiped out all the good he had done during the race, dropping him to tenth place as a result of the 10-second penalty handed down by the stewards.

The incredible part, however, is that it all stemmed from a rather glaring error by the Red Bull team: the Verstappen-Russell clash occurred after Gianpiero Lambiase, Max Verstappen’s race engineer, warned him to give back the position to his rival following a contact at Turn 1 during the restart after the Safety Car. On that occasion, the Briton had attempted an inside move on the world champion, who was slowed by the hard tyres. A slight contact between Verstappen’s rear right wheel and Russell’s front left led the #1 to partially cut the corner, rejoining the track ahead of the Mercedes.

From the Red Bull pit wall, expecting a penalty, the decision was made to voluntarily give back fourth place to the #63 Silver Arrow. However, the stewards were already reviewing the incident and later decided that no action was necessary, regardless of the position being given back. The chicane cut was not deemed irregular by the stewards, and Verstappen could have remained in fourth place behind Charles Leclerc. An incredible own goal for a team like Red Bull.

Reading the document published by the stewards, it is clearly stated that it was Russell’s move—albeit accidental—that caused the reigning champion to leave the track. “Car #63,” the official FIA note reads, “attempted to overtake Car #1 on the inside of Turn 1. While the front axle of Car #63 was ahead of the mirror of Car #1 at the apex, the driver of Car #63 momentarily lost control of the car and collided with Car #1, causing it to run wide and into the run-off area. Car #1 rejoined the track at Turn 3 ahead of Car #63. Given that the cause of Car #1 going off track was the loss of control by Car #63 and the resulting contact, Car #1 did not leave the track deliberately. Consequently, we took no further action.”

Adding insult to injury for the Milton Keynes team, the fact that the instruction to give back the position came directly from the Red Bull pit wall—without any obligation from the stewards—was also highlighted in the document that penalised Verstappen for the later contact with Russell: “From the radio communications, it is clear that the driver of Car #1 was instructed by his team to ‘give the position back’ to Car #63 for what they believed was a prior infringement by Car #1 for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage (in fact, we later determined that we would take no further action regarding that incident).”