Karun Chandhok thinks he spotted the moment Max Verstappen realised he made a mistake in his battle with George Russell

Max Verstappen had another clash with George Russell as the two came to blows at the Spanish Grand Prix. The incident has dented his title defence as he was demoted to 10th after the race.

After the late safety car restart, the Dutchman struggled on hard tyres, losing third to Charles Leclerc down the main straight. Russell attempted to pass into turn one but forced the Red Bull off the track.

As Verstappen came back on the circuit ahead of the Mercedes, his race engineer instructed him to hand the position back, considering the risk of a penalty too great. The four-time champion looked to let Russell through at turn five, only to turn into him.

Verstappen eventually let his rival through at turn 12, but the damage was done as he was handed a 10-second time penalty, dropping him from P5 to P10, and three penalty points to his FIA superlicence. Guenther Steiner felt the penalty was ‘strict’ as he edges closer to a race ban.

Verstappen apologised to Red Bull in his debrief after the race. It was a damaging weekend for the team as Yuki Tsunoda scored no points after qualifying last.

Verstappen accepted responsibility for the incident in a post on social media. While he did not explicitly apologise to Russell, he recognised the mistake he made, and Karun Chandhok thinks he knows when that moment came.

Karun Chandhok spots the moment Max Verstappen realised his mistake with George Russell through radio silence

The Dutchman was not impressed that he had to hand the position back to Russell, as he was heard shouting over the radio. This ‘explosion of rage’ prompted him to collide with the Mercedes driver into turn five.

But Chandhok noticed that Verstappen ‘somehow’ calmed himself down by turn 12. Speaking via The F1 Show, the pundit thinks he realised his mistake within seven corners as there was ‘no radio communication’ after the incident.

“And if you look at what happened, he did this at turn five,” he said.

“And again, when you watch the radio back, he’s gone in, driven into George and then somehow between turn five and turn 12, he’s sort of calmed down, had a word with himself and gone: ‘Oh, that was naughty, shouldn’t have done that.’

“And he moves aside and lets George pass. I’ll just listen back, there was no radio communication from the pit wall, asking him to move aside at turn 12. So he’s had this explosion of rage, calmed himself down in seven corners and then sort of settled.”

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Could Max Verstappen be considering his Red Bull more than ever after the Spanish Grand Prix?

With Oscar Piastri grabbing his fifth win of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix and Verstappen walking away with one point, 49 points separate the two drivers after nine races.

The FIA’s flexi-wing technical directive had little to no effect on the pecking order as McLaren made no changes and still cruised to their third 1-2 finish of 2025. While the RB21 is now ‘easier’ to set up, Red Bull had a torrid weekend as they slipped to fourth in the constructors’ championship.

The defending four-time champion’s frustration had led to further speculation about his future with Red Bull, with it being revealed in Barcelona that he has a top-three exit clause in his contract. Helmut Marko rubbished Ralf Schumacher’s claim that Verstappen deliberately hit Russell to trigger the clause.

But having that way out of his contract will keep teams interested in his services come 2026. Rumours are suggesting that Aston Martin are looking for an ‘excuse’ to drop Lance Stroll for Verstappen, after the Canadian pulled out of the Spanish GP with a wrist injury.