Ralf Schumacher wildly suggested that Max Verstappen did what he did against George Russell at the Spanish GP to help trigger his Red Bull exit clause.

Understandably, such a comment has drawn the ire of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who called it the “biggest nonsense possible” from Schumacher and the most “stupid” comment he has heard “for a long time” following the controversial collision between Verstappen and Russell in Barcelona.

Schumacher’s Max Verstappen crash theory destroyed by Horner

Verstappen’s frustrations began when he was put on hard tyres – that was the only remaining option – for a late Spanish GP restart after the Safety Car has been out to cover Kimi Antonelli’s stricken Mercedes, while Verstappen’s rivals were on soft tyres.

Charles Leclerc came through at Turn 1 and Russell attempted to follow down the inside, but contact sent Verstappen into the run-off as he returned ahead of Russell. Race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase would make the call to Verstappen to give Russell P4.

Despite disagreeing with that Red Bull verdict, it looked as though Verstappen was going to oblige at Turn 5, only to clatter into Russell, with both drivers fortunately escaping damage.

The stewards later gave Verstappen a 10-second penalty for causing a collision which demoted him to P10 in the final classification, while the subsequent three penalty points added to his FIA Super Licence leave him on 11, meaning one more will trigger a one-race ban.

“His behaviour is a pity, he doesn’t need that as a four-time World Champion,” said Schumacher of Verstappen on Sky Deutschland.

“I don’t know what got into him. It is clear that frustration is on the way, but that should not be the case. I think he realised today that it’s not going as hoped and that the update didn’t work so well.”

With McLaren’s Oscar Piastri taking a fifth win of the season in Barcelona and Lando Norris completing a one-two for the team, Verstappen is now 49 points off the top of the Drivers’ Championship as he chases a fifth successive crown.

Key stats following the Spanish Grand Prix

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Verstappen’s Red Bull future has been a popular topic of debate over recent years, fuelled by an exit clause in his Red Bull contract which runs until the end of 2028.

And that formed the basis for a truly wild statement from Schumacher, as the six-time grand prix winner suggested Verstappen could be looking to cost himself points with incidents like this one with Russell in the hope of activating the clause.

“You have to pay attention to why things like this happen and why he gets an unnecessary penalty if there is a clause,” said Schumacher. “It’s a critical phase.”

The response to that from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was emphatic and damning.

“This theory is the biggest nonsense possible,” he told BILD of Schumacher’s suggestion. “I haven’t heard anything so stupid for a long time.

“Max is a racer through and through. He always wants to win and would never act like that.”

Verstappen would issue a social media statement following the race to acknowledge that his Russell crash was “not right”, while according to Horner, Verstappen apologised internally to Red Bull.

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