Russell Suggests Verstappen’s Move In Spanish GP Clash Was ‘Deliberate’

In the aftermath of the Spanish Grand Prix, George Russell accused Max Verstappen of deliberately crashing into him during the closing stages of the race. The incident occurred after Verstappen was instructed to let the Mercedes driver back past, following an earlier incident between the two.

Russell expressed his belief that the move was intentional, stating, “It felt very deliberate, to be honest. It’s something that I’ve seen numerous times in sim racing and on iRacing. Never have I seen it in a Formula 1 race. So that was something new.”

The Mercedes driver also criticized Verstappen’s behavior, suggesting that it sets a poor example for young aspiring Formula 1 drivers. “It’s a bit of a shame because Max is clearly one of the best drivers in the world. But maneuvers like that are just totally unnecessary and sort of lets him down. It’s a shame for all the young kids looking up, aspiring to be Formula 1 drivers,” Russell said.

When asked if Verstappen should have been disqualified for the incident, Russell responded, “Honestly, I need to look back on it. If it was truly deliberate, then absolutely. Because you cannot deliberately crash into another driver. We’re putting our lives on the line. We’re fortunate the cars are as safe as they are these days, but we shouldn’t take it for granted. As I said, it’s down to the stewards to determine if it’s deliberate or not.”

Verstappen, when informed of Russell’s comments, replied sarcastically, “I’ll bring some tissues next time.”

The stewards handed Verstappen three penalty points for the incident, which leaves him just one point away from a race ban. If the Dutchman accumulates 12 penalty points within a 12-month period, he will face a single-race suspension.

Verstappen, however, refused to directly address the incident, stating, “Does it matter [if contact with George was intentional]? I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.”

“We are way too slow anyway to fight for the title, I think that was clear again today.

“We tried to do a three-stop. I thought it was quite good and it was quite racy, and we also needed it because we had quite a bit of degradation on the tires.

“I think that was good but unfortunately the safety car came out at the end and we basically ran out of tires and the hard tire was clearly not the right tire.

“When you only have six laps to go everyone can go flat out and I was severely grip limited on the hard,” he concluded.