Max Verstappen gave himself a damaging blow to his title chances in 2025 with a chaotic end to the Spanish Grand Prix.
A late safety car caused by Kimi Antonelli set up a tense final few laps, with Verstappen looking to execute a three-stop strategy. However, he was left with only a set of hard tyres for his final stint, which cost him dearly.
As the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris pit for new softs, they stormed away into the distance. Verstappen lost the back end coming out of the final corner at the restart, allowing Charles Leclerc to come past for third.
Leclerc and Verstappen collided as the Ferrari overtook, before George Russell attempted to pass into turn one. The Red Bull driver ran wide and came back onto the circuit ahead of the Brit, but was asked to hand the position back.
Enraged, Verstappen went to let Russell past into turn five, before turning into the Mercedes driver. The four-time champion eventually let him through and came home fifth, but was hit with a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points to his superlicence.
Verstappen apologised to Red Bull in his debrief after the race, but the damage was done as he now sits 49 points behind championship leader Piastri.
Guenther Steiner felt the FIA were ‘strict’ handing Max Verstappen three penalty points on his licence in Barcelona
Many people have debated whether the sanctions handed out by the FIA were justified or not. F1 fans slammed Verstappen’s ‘absurd’ overtake on Russell, while Nico Rosberg felt the Dutchman should have been black flagged for the incident.
The 10-second penalty meant he left Barcelona with just one point. But the most dangerous punishment he received was the three penalty points to his licence, taking him up to 11 in total.
Verstappen is now just one penalty point away from a race suspension. While many might see this as a fair sanction, Guenther Steiner believes it was ‘strict’ from the FIA.
Asked whether Verstappen was lucky to get a 10-second time penalty, Steiner said via talkSPORT: “Oh yeah. I would say he got lucky with that one.
“I mean, three penalty points, especially when you’re having so many already, when you have so many penalty points, that was pretty strict what they did.
“But the 10 seconds, I mean you could debate it, should he have a bigger penalty or not? But then it put him back quite a lot anyway, he finished 10th so he made only one point. So, he did himself some damage yesterday, absolutely.”
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Is Max Verstappen’s feud with George Russell heating up again after the Spanish Grand Prix?
Russell’s fourth place at the Spanish Grand Prix is his best result since Miami and moves him 26 points behind Verstappen. Their collision in Barcelona is the latest conflict between the pair, which intensified at the Qatar GP in 2024.
Verstappen was adjudged to have impeded the Mercedes driver in qualifying, which led to a tense altercation outside the stewards’ room. Russell’s comments about Verstappen in Qatar were justified by the ‘unnecessary’ incident in Spain.
Verstappen refused to acknowledge the Russell incident in his post-race interview. He does not seem to care what people think about his actions.
Verstappen also said it is ‘unnecessary’ to speak to Russell as he looks to move on from the incident. With another McLaren win, his chances of a fifth consecutive title now look bleak.
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