Max Verstappen's unadulterated petulance deserved a black flag

Telegraph

3 days ago

Across five frantic laps in the Barcelona heat, the world witnessed the best and the worst of Max Verstappen. First he showed astonishingly quick reflexes when, trying to put so much energy into his hard tyres at the restart that he veered on to a final-corner kerb, he snapped the car back into position and averted a smash into the barriers at 190mph. But then, in a fit of pique that has become his trademark, he activated 'Mad Max' mode, shoving George Russell so gratuitously that Lando Norris likened it to a move from Mario Kart.
His fellow drivers recoiled in unison. Watching in the green room ahead of the podium ceremony, Norris, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc reacted with a mixture of horror and amusement. While they recognised instantly that Verstappen's behaviour was beyond the pale, they were also familiar with his reputation as, to use Russell's words, a ' win-it-or-bin-it kind of guy'. Except this time, the Dutchman's actions were less daredevil than dastardly. He did not even attempt to deny that he had targeted Russell, reacting to a question about whether the collision was intentional by shrugging: 'Does it matter?'
Well, yes it does. I am not sure I agree with suggestions that he is setting a poor example to aspiring drivers hoping to emulate him in Formula One, which strikes me as too sanctimonious a view. The sport lives or dies, after all, by the raw theatre that Verstappen unfailingly provides. But the latest in a litany of transgressions does harm his reputation, sullying his otherwise compelling credentials to be regarded among the finest drivers in history.
Verstappen will not, in all likelihood, win a fifth consecutive title this season. But the performance he is wringing out of a Red Bull vastly inferior to the two runaway McLarens is astonishing. By rights, his car should be nowhere near a championship battle. His pedigree behind the wheel is such that he has already seen off one team-mate this year, with Liam Lawson relegated to the junior Racing Bulls. And he could yet torpedo the career of a second, with Yuki Tsunoda also flailing helplessly in his wake. In the seven races since his promotion, the 25-year-old from Japan has finished no better than ninth. Over the same period, Verstappen has won twice and accumulated 110 points.
Where the focus should be firmly on his scintillating skill, debate is drawn instead to his appetite for excess. Nico Rosberg, the world champion in Verstappen's maiden campaign in 2016, did not dial down his contempt for the dangerous manoeuvre against Russell, calling immediately for a disqualification. 'Seriously bad,' he said. 'He just rams him, full on. You need to black-flag that – there is no other way.'
Nico Rosberg discusses the collision between Max Verstappen and George Russell. pic.twitter.com/b5Lubf55Ky
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 1, 2025
A black flag, used to disqualify a driver and summon him immediately back to the garage, is rarely deployed in F1. When Nico Hulkenberg was given such a penalty in Sao Paulo last November, for illegally receiving physical assistance from marshals to rejoin the track, it was the first time in 17 years that such a sanction had been issued. Verstappen's infringement was easily as bad as Hulkenberg's, if not worse. For a start, it was dangerous, a full side-on bang that left a visibly shocked Russell reflecting: 'It seemed a little bit unnecessary – I don't quite understand the rationale.' Plus, Verstappen did nothing to dispute the impression it was premeditated, saying only of Rosberg's condemnation: 'That's his opinion.'
Max Verstappen is told to let George Russell through and then the two collide! 😲 pic.twitter.com/SpNBwLoGaj
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 1, 2025
While stewards resisted brandishing a black flag, choosing to apply a 10-second penalty that dropped him from fifth to 10th, the case for Verstappen to receive a form of exemplary punishment is self-evident. His swiping of a hard-chasing Russell was not the product of strategy but of pure, unadulterated petulance. Gianpiero Lambiase, his race engineer, had already told him to let Russell through. But rather than begrudgingly complying with the team paying him £55 million a year, he refused to yield, all but barging the Mercedes driver into the gravel at the next corner.
Quite apart from his defiance of Red Bull orders, Verstappen besmirched his image through his down-and-dirty tactics. Were it an isolated incident, you might be tempted to give him the benefit of the doubt. The reality, though, is that his hot-headedness, bordering on outright recklessness, forms part of a pattern. While there is an argument that he should be handed a race ban for the Russell episode alone, he could yet incur one for the sheer number of penalty points on his licence. He has accrued 11 so far: two for causing a collision with Norris in Austria last year, two for forcing the McLaren driver off track in Mexico City, one for being under the minimum delta behind a virtual safety car in Brazil, one for driving unnecessarily slowly on a qualifying cool-down lap in Qatar, two for a tangle with Piastri in Abu Dhabi, plus three for the Russell skirmish. One more, and the stewards will have no choice but to throw him out of the next grand prix.
Verstappen, unusually, accepted some responsibility on Monday, writing 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.' It was as far as he would go, clearly, as he stopped short of an outright apology. But on this occasion, the sport should hold its nerve and apply a single-race ban. Regrettably, Verstappen's genius as a driver is matched only by his propensity for causing mayhem whenever he feels hard done by. A meaningful deterrent is the only way he will ever learn.