Verstappen: Russell collision 'not right and shouldn't have happened'
Formula One
The reigning champ seemed to hit George Russell on purpose at the Spanish Grand Prix… Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading
Max Verstappen has admitted that his collision with George Russell in the final few laps of the Spanish Grand Prix was, er, not the wisest thing he's ever done.
The four-time champ appeared to deliberately crash into ( The lawyers won't like this - Ed ) the Mercedes driver – with whom he has no shortage of beef – after they'd already hit each other a few corners earlier.
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Seconds after the safety car restart Russell had dived down the inside of Turn 1, but contact between them forced Verstappen to take the escape road, allowing him to keep P4.
His team advised him to give up the position, but he replied: 'What? I was ahead mate. What the ****?!' ( Can we mention the stewards actually sided with Max here? ) You might like
So when he lifted into Turn 5 it looked like he was letting Russell through, but he accelerated again and barged straight into his rival. Later when Lando Norris saw a replay of the incident, he said: 'I've done that before… in Mario Kart.' Awks.
Verstappen was quickly slapped with a 10-second penalty which dropped him from P4 on the road to P10 in the final classification, and he's now 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, who took the chequered flag in Spain.
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What caused Verstappen to see red? His race fell apart when the late safety car forced him onto a sub-optimal set of hard tyres, and that immediately cost him a podium place when a massive snap of oversteer allowed Charles Leclerc to glide past at the restart. ( Let's make clear just how impressive that incredible save was, or the comments section will have a field day! ).
To make matters worse, the Ferrari and Red Bull then touched as they converged on the same line, although the stewards let that one slide as neither driver was deemed mostly to blame.
After the race Russell said Verstappen's actions '[let] him down', to which Verstappen said he would 'bring some tissues next time.'
However, it sounds like he's had time to reflect overnight. 'We had an exciting strategy and good race in Barcelona, till the safety car came out,' wrote Max on Instagram. 'Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn't have happened.
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'I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high. You win some together, you lose some together. See you in Montreal.'
Verstappen needs to be careful now: he's up to 11 penalty points on his racing licence and one more earns him a race ban. Although some have argued that causing a crash on purpose should earn that automatically. ( Groan, I can hear the cries of 'Bias!' already. )
Thoughts, folks?
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