Verstappen penalised after clash with Russell, Wolff: “Looked like a reckless move out of anger”. Max Verstappen received a 10-second penalty after a clash with Russell in the Spanish GP.

Chaos in the final stages in Barcelona
Max Verstappen, in the closing moments of the Spanish GP, made contact with George Russell at Turn 5 — a wheel-to-wheel clash with Max Verstappen on the inside and George Russell on the outside. The Dutchman appeared to slow down to let Russell through, but then accelerated and reclaimed the inside line against the Mercedes driver.

The stewards penalised Max Verstappen with a 10-second penalty that dropped him to tenth place, a verdict that left him 49 points behind World Championship leader Oscar Piastri.

“We need to look at the telemetry, if he did it out of anger it’s not okay,” Toto Wolff told Sky Sport. “It looked like a move from an angry taxi driver.” Russell commented: “From inside the car it felt deliberate, maybe he forgot we weren’t on iRacing.” Verstappen responded: “Does it matter whether I did it on purpose or not? I’d rather talk about the race. I took my penalty.” According to Nico Rosberg, Verstappen should have been disqualified.