New footage of Max Verstappen blow-up at Spanish GP says it all

News.com.au

2 days ago

On-board footage of Max Verstappen's incident with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix appears to show the Red Bull driver was clearly in the wrong.
The race exploded on Lap 63 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya when Verstappen steered his Red Bull into Russell's Mercedes as they battled for fourth position.
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Verstappen was advised by his team to give Russell the place back and that's when all hell broke loose.
The 27-year-old eventually, begrudgingly, let the door open for Russell to overtake him around the outside of turn five — only to then dart into the side of Russell's Mercedes W16 as the British driver looked to swoop around the bend.
Russell was heard saying on team radio: 'What the f***'.
New on-board footage from Verstappen's car shows the two arrived at the apex of the corner almost together, before the world champion clearly veered towards the right into Russell's car when there was plenty of room on the left hand side of the corner.
Watch Verstappen's on-board footage from the incident in the video above
Verstappen after the race did not deny that his move on Russell — with whom he was involved in a war of words last season — was deliberate.
'Does it matter?' he said.
'I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.'
Asked by Sky whether his reputation was being tarnished by the collisions and penalty, he said: 'Is it? Well that's your opinion. We will leave it there.'
A day after the race, Verstappen acknowledged the move on Russell was 'not right'.
'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.
'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.'
F1 commentators around the globe were unanimous in criticising Verstappen for the vicious move.
Former world champion Nico Rosberg led criticism of Verstappen during the race, saying on Sky Sports the Dutch driver should have been black-flagged and disqualified.
'It looked like a very intentional retaliation,' Rosberg said.
'Wait for the opponent, go ramming into him, just like you felt the other guy rammed into you at Turn 1.
'That's something which is extremely unacceptable and I think the rules would be a black flag. If you wait for your opponent to bang into him, that's a black flag.'
Sky Sports F1 analyst Anthony Davidson also said Verstappen's move appeared to be intentional.
'I don't understand why Max slows down after Turn 4,' he said.
'Then, suddenly decides, 'No I'm not going to let him through'.
'It's almost like he decides, 'No, I'm not going to let him by at all'. He carries such excessive speed into the corner and he's not out of control when doing this and dive-bombs into the corner and hits the Mercedes hard.
'George is immediately on the radio to say 'what on Earth was that?'
'I think it's intentional. And I don't like to see that.'
Despite the serious incident, FIA stewards were quick to hand down a 10-second time penalty, which dropped Verstappen from fifth to 10th.
Russell said Verstappen's move reminded him of video games.
'I was as surprised as you guys were,' he told reporters. 'I've seen these manoeuvres before on simulator games and in go-karting, but never in F1.
'Ultimately, we came home in P4 and he came home in P10. I don't know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment so, yeah, it was a bit surprising.
'It is down to the stewards to decide if its deliberate or not. Max is such an amazing driver and so many people look up to him. It's a shame that something like that continues to occur. It seems totally unnecessary and it never seems to benefit himself.'
When asked for his version of events, Russell said bluntly: 'I just got crashed into'.
Russell told the Formula 1 broadcast he would not seek to have a conversation with Verstappen about the incident.
Russell famously labelled Verstappen a 'bully' at the end of the 2024 F1 series, claiming Verstappen threatened to purposefully go out of his way to crash into him and 'put my f***ing head into the wall'.
Max Verstappen facing F1 race ban
Verstappen has been left one point away from a racing ban.
FIA stewards have given the Red Bull driver two penalty points on his Super License which takes him up to 11 points. Drivers receive a racing ban if they collect 12 points over a 12-month period.
The next time the four-time world champion will see any of his penalty points expire will be on June 30.
That means Verstappen will need to be on his best behaviour at both the Canada Grand Prix on June 15 and then Red Bull's home race at the Austrian Grand Prix on June 29.
Picking up another penalty point in Montreal would mean a ban for Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring, while a point in the second race would mean he is banned from the British Grand Prix on July 6.