Max Verstappen told by Mercedes legend he was ‘missing’ two key words from his post-race Spanish Grand Prix statement

Max Verstappen has been the subject of more controversy following the Spanish Grand Prix, after colliding with George Russell.

The Dutchman was given a 10-second time penalty by the FIA stewards for causing a collision with the British driver in the final two laps, after being told by his team to give fourth place back for leaving the track.

Verstappen later issued an apology on his social media, after receiving backlash from F1 fans and pundits, with Nico Rosberg calling for him to be issued with a black flag.

After seeing the message on Instagram, former Mercedes F1 boss Norbert Haug told Sky Sports Germany that there were two words missing from the statement.

Norbert Haug highlights lack of apology for George Russell from Max Verstappen

Verstappen’s rivalry with Russell is well-known, after the Mercedes driver got into a war of words with the Dutchman at last year’s Abu Dhabi GP.

It appears there is no love lost between the pair, after Haug pointed out that Verstappen did not include an apology in his statement on the incident.

“I was shocked. I couldn’t imagine that someone would be punished [on track] like that. At least he apologised today, but I think we need to examine the entire chain of circumstances. For me, the apology today is missing two very simple words at the very end, ‘Sorry, George’,” said Haug.

“Maybe he can also apologise to the stewards. It shouldn’t have happened. It’s a good start, but a good ending counts for everything. And that’s why I would have expected him to say “I apologise” to George.

“I apologise for my misconduct to the FIA ​​and all the fans watching. He is a person who is admired, rightly admired, with absolute certainty the very best racing driver these days for a long time, and one must behave accordingly.”

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Max Verstappen close to a one-race ban after George Russell incident

One of the outcomes of the investigation by the stewards was Verstappen being given three penalty points on his FIA super licence.

Drivers are not allowed to incur more than 12 points in a 12-month period and Verstappen is now on 11 points with the addition of the penalty from the Spanish Grand Prix.

Points expire after 12 months, and his next points don’t expire until the end of June, which means he has two events where he must not incur any more points.

This means Verstappen must not get caught up in any on-track incidents, otherwise he risks an automatic one-race ban.