Max Verstappen Reinforces Drive To Survive Villain Image in Controversial Spanish GP
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was at the center of yet another controversy on track, this time after colliding with George Russell during the final laps of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Red Bull ordered Verstappen to give up a position to Russell after the two cars collided during the closing stages of the race.
Verstappen vehemently disagreed with the switch, arguing that he was not in the wrong and should be allowed to keep his place on the radio.
On track, Verstappen looked like he was going to let Russell through, but Verstappen rammed into the Mercedes car in a fit of rage.
A 10-second time penalty was given to Verstappen, which dropped him from P5 to P10.
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands walks past the podium after driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 during the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on June 01, 2025 in Barcelona,...
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands walks past the podium after driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 during the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on June 01, 2025 in Barcelona, Spain More
Photo byThe collision led to several reactions on social media condemning Verstappen's move on Russell.
"OH MY WORD MAX VERSTAPPEN HAS JUST INTENTIONALLY CRASHED INTO GEORGE RUSSELL WHATTTT 🤯🤯," @formula1god posted on X.
"Max Verstappen is a sore loser, and i will never have an ounce of respect for him," someone else posted on X.
"Max Verstappen is an absolute disgrace. Disgusting personality, awful attitude, constant cheat and moaner. Driver and team alike are a massive let down to the sport. An embarrassment for F1 truly," a third posted on X.
This kind of scathing criticism has regularly been issued to Verstappen for his tendency to drive extremely aggressively.
During his fight with Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 Drivers' Championship, Verstappen had several moments where he clashed with Hamilton, many of which were captured in Netflix's Drive To Survive.
This angle of the Hamilton-Verstappen crash is absolutely nuts. That halo has saved Hamilton 😦
pic.twitter.com/8Nvp7fnyzy — Sioned Dafydd (@SionedDafydd) September 12, 2021
Verstappen has garnered a reputation, whether fairly or unfairly, as a driver willing to crash or have contact if it means that his competitor is also knocked out of the race.
This reputation leads drivers, most notably Lando Norris, to race carefully to avoid collisions, knowing that Verstappen will likely not provide the necessary space through certain areas.
Last season, George Russell got into a war of words with Verstappen regarding the Dutch driver's on-track behavior and hot-headed nature.
"People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can't question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity," Russell said in December about Verstappen.
"Whenever anything has gone against him, he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race the car wasn't dominant, crashing into Lewis [Hamilton], slamming his team.."
Verstappen has said on numerous occasions that he does not mind what other people think about his driving style, claiming all he wants to do is win.
While the four-time champion is known to drive beyond his car's limits and extract pace out of nowhere, that same ability translates over to his on-track fights, leaving Formula 1 as a whole left to take the brilliance with the erratic behavior.
Drama in the closing stages of the race! 😱
Max Verstappen drops to P10 following a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with George Russell #F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/anhkyJ92pk — Formula 1 (@F1) June 1, 2025
More F1: Max Verstappen Awarded FIA Platinum License for Endurance Racing
For more F1, head on over to Newsweek Sports.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
35 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
German Automakers Discussing U.S. Tariff Deal, What You Need to Know
Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW are leading talks with Washington over a tariff deal involving German automakers receiving credits for vehicles they export from America to other countries, which would lower or offset the tariffs on cars they import into the U.S. from Germany. America is the European Union's (EU) fifth-largest vehicle export destination after China, Japan, Britain, and Turkey, according to Reuters, but the U.S. is the largest export destination for German cars. Mercedes-Benz is expanding its U.S. production by manufacturing its GLC SUV at its Alabama plant starting in 2027, BMW is considering adding shifts at its Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, and Volkswagen's Audi mulls over producing some vehicles in the U.S.-a plan predating the Trump administration. Germany's leading automakers are aiming for talks with the U.S. Department of Commerce to result in a tariff deal in June. The potential new and current investments that the Commerce Department is reviewing from German automakers are worth billions of dollars. BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said that the manufacturer's Spartanburg plant supports 43,000 jobs and contributes over $26 billion yearly. While many European automakers withdrew their 2025 financial forecasts, BMW is backing its March projections alongside Ferrari, which also stood by its 2025 earnings forecast. However, BMW's decision to stick with its 2025 guidance is partially based on the idea that some tariffs will go into reverse from July at the latest. BMW finance chief Walter Mertl said: "We are noticing that things are moving, developing, and being negotiated everywhere. Accordingly, our reading, based on all the networks that we have at our disposal, is that we assume that something will change in July," Just Auto reports. The German automaker's 2025 outlook includes earnings on par with 2024 and an operating margin in the car segment of 5-7%, according to Reuters. The head of Germany's auto lobby, Hildegard Müller, highlighted in an interview with Politico that Germany produces about 840,000 vehicles annually within the U.S. for both the American market and exports, with 140,000 total employees. In addition to BMW's Spartanburg plant, Mercedes-Benz's Tuscaloosa, Alabama factory has been operating since 1997, resulting in approximately four million vehicles produced. Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant, which opened in 2011, built 175,000 cars in 2023. Müller also pointed out that building a U.S. automotive plant, even if you're quick, takes one or two years, and companies are losing money fast. U.S. tariffs are causing manufacturers like BMW to lose $11.3 million daily and impacting about €67 billion ($76 billion) of EU automotive exports, Euronews reports. Automakers like Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz are pushing for a U.S. tariff deal with the selling point that German automakers receive credits based on the number of vehicles Germany produces in America to reduce the two countries' car market trade deficit. However, if the tariffs stay in place, powerful voices in the automotive industry, like Hildegard Müller, noted that these policies can lower the pressure that U.S. car manufacturers face to be innovative, weakening their international competitiveness in the medium term. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Max Verstappen: Why the Red Bull driver will never change the way he races
'I get really tired of all the comments saying I should change my approach. I will never do that, because it brought me to where I am right now.' That quote from Max Verstappen, given at the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix when he was 20 years old, feels as relevant today as it did then. His comment came in response to questions about a string of crashes and incidents he'd experienced at the start of that season, his fourth F1 campaign. At the previous race in Monaco, he'd blown a chance at victory with a crash in final practice that prevented him from taking part in qualifying. Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo went on to win the famous grand prix instead. In the same answer, Verstappen warned that he was so tired of questions about his approach, 'If I get any more, I might headbutt someone.' Advertisement In the seven years that have passed since Verstappen made those comments, a lot has changed. He's become a four-time world champion, including the most dominant title win in F1 history in 2023, and moved into the upper-echelons of the record books. Even at 27, he's in the conversation among F1's all-time greats. Yet Verstappen's aggressive approach to racing has never wavered, the most recent example coming in Spain on Sunday when he appeared to deliberately run into the side of George Russell's Mercedes. It resulted in Verstappen receiving a time penalty while also putting himself on the verge of a one-race ban, both of which dealt blows to his increasingly fragile hopes of winning a fifth successive championship in 2025. In the race's immediate aftermath, Verstappen didn't want to talk about the incident — just once referring to it as a 'misjudgment.' Only Russell publicly called out the collision for being a seemingly deliberate act when speaking after the race. Red Bull F1 chief, Christian Horner, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the race winner, and Russell's own team principal at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, all felt more context was needed to understand what Verstappen did. On Monday morning, Verstappen posted on Instagram that the collision with Russell was 'not right' and 'shouldn't have happened,' citing the tire choice and other driver moves on-track as having 'fuelled my frustration.' But it was not an outright apology for what happened. That still stood out for being the closest Verstappen has come to acknowledging his responsibility in an incident through his F1 career, a sign of his evolution from a young upstart in F1 to a four-time world champion. A huge change that brings with it added expectations. But at no point has that blunted Verstappen's hard, no-holds-barred stance against rivals on the track in pretty much every season he has competed at the front of the pack. This season you can get closer to the F1 action by joining The Athletic's Formula 1 WhatsApp channel. Click here to join or search for The Athletic | F1 on your WhatsApp. Verstappen brushed off his incident-laden start to 2018 in Canada with the infamous headbutt quote, despite Horner encouraging a 'modified' approach. Later that year in Brazil, Verstappen reacted angrily after Esteban Ocon spun him while trying to unlap himself, costing the Red Bull driver a surefire victory. Advertisement After they got out of their cars, Verstappen shoved Ocon in the FIA garage, resulting in two days of community service being issued by F1's governing body that he eventually served at a Formula E race in Morocco. But Verstappen later claimed it was 'quite a calm response,' adding: 'What do you expect me to do — shake his hand (and say) thank you very much for being second instead of first?' The greatest scrutiny on Verstappen's racing approach came through his intense title fight against Lewis Hamilton in 2021. The margins that year were so fine that one corner or battle often ended up deciding a race outcome. Verstappen squeezed Hamilton at Imola in a first taste of what was to come, but Hamilton was then blamed for being chiefly responsible for their collision at Silverstone that resulted in a high-speed crash for Verstappen. Hamilton went on to win the race despite a time penalty, while Red Bull was unsuccessful in arguing with the FIA that he should have been given a harsher sanction — even going as far as getting then-reserve driver Alex Albon to recreate the lines of the cars during a private test. A crash at Monza eliminated both Verstappen and Hamilton, when Verstappen tried ambitiously to hold the outside line at the first chicane, only to run out of road and lose control over the curb before the cars collided, the Red Bull ended up on top of the Mercedes. Without the halo, Verstappen's car would have landed on Hamilton's head. Verstappen's immediate response was to point the finger at Hamilton, saying on the radio: 'That's what you get when you don't leave a space.' Horner deemed it a racing incident, but the stewards disagreed, putting full blame on Verstappen and giving him a grid penalty for the next race that was made redundant by a drop for a Red Bull's pre-planned engine change. Advertisement Then came Saudi Arabia, the penultimate race of the 2021 season, where Verstappen made multiple lunges to stay ahead of Hamilton, and then slowed suddenly — similar to Spain with Russell — appearing to try and give the place back, resulting in contact. He also attempted a dive-bomb move (an ambitious overtake from distance) on Hamilton on the opening lap of their Abu Dhabi title decider, forcing Hamilton to go off-track to avoid a collision. Verstappen would, of course, go on to win the title after race director Michael Masi's fumbling of the rulebook, passing Hamilton with fresh tires on the final lap that should not have been taken under a green flag. Through 2022, and especially 2023, Verstappen's elbows-out approach to racing cooled somewhat. Red Bull's pace advantage through this phase was such that he didn't need to do everything to win the race in an instant — he could bide his time. The car was so quick, he'd generally win eventually. But the pressure applied by Norris and McLaren through 2024 brought back some of Verstappen's old racing tactics, notably in Austin — when Norris got a penalty for passing Verstappen off the track, the Red Bull having been ahead at the apex and technically entitled to the corner — and Mexico, where Verstappen got penalties for two incidents on the same lap when he ran Norris off the road to try and stay ahead. It sparked calls from most drivers to review F1's racing rules, but Verstappen and Red Bull again saw nothing wrong in these actions. Horner arrived at his post-race media session in Mexico with telemetry data in defense of Verstappen, while Verstappen said he wouldn't share his opinion, nor change his approach. Mexico was the closest Norris came to really pushing back against Verstappen, a driver he has long admired and shares a good relationship with, by calling him 'dangerous' on the radio. He also claimed post-race that Verstappen would 'sacrifice himself' to win the championship. On Sunday in Spain, Norris described Verstappen's move on Russell as being like 'Mario Kart' in the drivers' cool-down room, but didn't want to comment on it otherwise when speaking to reporters. The main voice to speak up against Verstappen's on-track moves has been Mercedes driver Russell when, in Qatar last year, he claimed Verstappen had threatened to 'put me on my f—ing head in the wall' for his role in getting Verstappen a grid penalty. Advertisement Verstappen later denied he'd said that to Russell and that the Briton was 'exaggerating.' Russell was clearly emotional when delivering his comments in a small media roundtable, which included The Athletic, once race later in Abu Dhabi last year, saying that 'people have been bullied by Max for years now.' Whenever Verstappen's racing approach has been broached with Horner, he has typically always lauded his driver's commitment to hard racing, and suggest that his competitors know what they're getting into when going wheel-to-wheel with the Dutchman. While that may be true, it does not equate to a free pass to act however he pleases on the track — Spain being proof that there will be consequences for crossing a line, particularly if it ends up leading to a race ban down the line. But it is an insight into Verstappen's champion's mindset. By believing the knives are being sharpened to get you, it makes you lift your own performance in response. 'There's a pattern that the great ones, whether it's in motor racing or in other sports, you just need to have the world against you, and then perform at the highest possible levels,' Mercedes team boss Wolff said on Sunday after the race in Spain. 'That's why sometimes these greats don't recognize that actually the world is not against you, you have made a mistake, or you have screwed up.' The same was true for drivers such as Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, both of whom have highly questionable on-track actions as context when their greatness is discussed. They had a total belief they were in the right — the trophies and championships acting as justification for it all being worthwhile, including times they deliberately crashed into rivals. A win-at-all-costs approach is admirable in some respects, as sporting success will trump everything when it comes to writing a legacy. But sometimes, there will be a price to pay for it. Privately in Barcelona, Verstappen did recognize that cost. After completing all of his post-race media duties and returning to Red Bull's engineering suite for the team's typical post-race debrief, Verstappen immediately apologized for what happened with Russell. He cares deeply about his fellow team members, understanding the lengths they go to for him to be fighting for wins and championships. Costing them a result would have been what hurt him the most. But as Verstappen said back in 2018, his way of going racing got him to exactly this point —a four-time world champion and the greatest of his generation. He wouldn't change a thing in this journey. So don't expect him to change going forward.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Toto Wolff baffled by Max Verstappen after ‘incomprehensible' ram into George Russell
Toto Wolff was somewhat baffled after Max Verstappen drove deliberately into George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix, calling the whole situation 'incomprehensible.' Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty by the stewards, demoting him from fifth to tenth, for ramming into Russell in the closing stages of Sunday's race in Barcelona. Verstappen was also given three penalty points on his licence, meaning he is one point away from a race ban. Advertisement Mercedes boss Wolff, who has made no secret of his past interest in signing four-time F1 world champion Verstappen for the Silver Arrows, was confused by the situation in which the Dutchman was originally told by his engineer to allow Russell through. 'So I just heard actually that Max had the call to let him past, right?' Wolff said. 'We were under the impression in the race that he had a problem with the car, and that's why he was so slow getting out of [turn] four. 'I mean, if it was road rage, which I can't imagine, because it was too obvious, that is not good. But the thing is I don't know what he aimed for. 'Did he want to let George past, and immediately re-pass? Put the car, George the car ahead, and then like the old DRS games, letting him past at the right way? Advertisement 'Or… for me, it's just incomprehensible. But again, I don't know exactly what the motivations were and I don't want to judge on it and say this was road rage, etc. Let's see what his arguments are. It wasn't nice.' As shown by his 11 penalty points, Verstappen has in recent times squabbled aggressively with cars on track, with notable incidents involving Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri last season. Max Verstappen was penalised by the stewards on Sunday (Getty Images) Toto Wolff found the whole situation 'incomprehensible' (PA Wire) Further back, Verstappen was involved in numerous controversial incidents with Lewis Hamilton during the pair's memorable title battle in 2021. 'There's a pattern that the great ones, whether it's in motor racing or in other sports, you just need to have the world against you, and then perform at the highest possible levels,' Wolff added. Advertisement 'And that's why sometimes these greats don't recognize that actually the world is not against you, you have made a mistake, or you have screwed up, etc etc. And we haven't seen any of these moments with Max for many years now. 'The year 2021, that happened, and I don't know where it comes from.' Verstappen now trails championship leader Oscar Piastri by 49 points after nine rounds. The next race is in Canada on 15 June.
