Crashing into George Russell in a moment that Helmut Marko still isn’t sure if it was a “misjudgment or thought process”, the Red Bull advisor believes emotions got the better of Max Verstappen in Spain.

And that is when “all hell broke loose”.

‘Kind of misjudgment or thought process’?

Verstappen was running third at the Spanish Grand Prix when a late Safety Car for Kimi Antonelli’s stricken Mercedes saw Red Bull pit the driver for fresh tyres, but hard ones.

Irate with the team’s decision and questioning it, Verstappen lined up ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell for the restart with his rivals on soft tyres. They immediately attacked.

Leclerc overtook Verstappen as the two bounced off each other, with Russell trying to capitalise only for Verstappen to cut the track and use the escape road to stay ahead in fourth place.

He was told by Red Bull to give the position to Russell, a call that added to his frustration.

“On the straight, I’d say Leclerc drove into Max’s car,” Marko recalled to ServusTV. “Then came the situation with Russell.

“And you have to say, Max knows the regulations in detail. He immediately said, ‘Hey, he was out of control, and that’s why I had to go wide’.

“The internal discussion was that it was 50-50. And since it happened right after the Safety Car period, the impact of a 10-second penalty is much greater than if it happened mid-race.

“So, that was one thing. Max didn’t want to give the position back. But he was instructed to do so – he did it under protest.”

Except he didn’t.

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Having been told by Red Bull to give the position to Russell, Verstappen seemed to oblige into Turn 5 on Lap 64, only to jink to the right as Russell went to pass him, crashing into the Mercedes driver.

Marko admits he was baffled by his driver’s antics.

“Max lifted off the throttle, so we all assumed he was letting Russell through. And then suddenly he accelerated again,” said the 82-year-old.

“I don’t know what kind of misjudgment or thought process was going on inside him. And then, as they say, all hell broke loose.”

Nico Rosberg, commentating on the Grand Prix for Sky F1, called for a black flag as he felt Verstappen had “just crashed into Russell on purpose just to prove a point”. Russell also said it felt “very deliberate” to him.

Verstappen was not black flagged, but he was given a 10-second penalty as the stewards ruled that the ‘collision was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Car 1’.

They also imposed three penalty points on Verstappen’s super licence, leaving the Red Bull driver one point away from a race ban.

The time penalty meant Verstappen fell from fifth at the chequered flag to 10th in the official classification, losing more ground to race winner and championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Marko pondered whether bad blood between Verstappen and Russell exacerbated the issue.

“There have already been issues in the past,” Marko said. “It was unnecessary, and a lot of points lost.

“But, because of all the incidents and wrong decisions that unfortunately happened, emotions simply got the better of him.

“And don’t forget – he’s already got a bit of a feud going on with Russell!”

Such were the emotions on the day, Red Bull avoided a “heated” debrief with the reigning World Champion, Marko saying: “Everyone has their own way. And when Max is in a mood like that, the best thing is to leave him alone.”

But while Verstappen was defiant in his media interviews on Sunday evening, adamant he had “no” regrets, in the cold light of Monday morning he held up his hand.

“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,” he wrote on Instagram.

“I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high. You win some together, you lose some together.”

There was no ‘sorry George’ in the mix as pointed out by former Mercedes chief Norbert Haug, but Marko reckons even that “admission from Max didn’t come easily”.

Verstappen sits third in the Drivers’ Championship where he is 49 points down on McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

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