Red Bull boss Christian Horner has revealed that Max Verstappen “apologised” to the team for his clash with George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix.

In a statement posted to social media, Horner said: “Spain closes out the triple header and we leave Barcelona frustrated that we didn’t take more from the race.

“As a team we attacked on the three stop which was the better strategy and it was only the safety car which had us over.

“We would never have been as close to Lando if it wasn’t for the three stopper.

“The safety car came out at the worst possible time for our strategy, we had the choice to stay out on older tyres or take the gamble with a new set of hard tyres.

“Hindsight is always 20/20, but we made the best decision at the time with the information we had.

“The result that followed was frustrating as it was looking to be an easy podium for Max and good Championship points.

“Max apologised in the debrief for his incident with Russell.

“The SC also hurt Yuki’s race, he would’ve been very close if not in the points otherwise if you look at the trajectory he was on.

But that’s racing. It can turn in a split second.

“It is one of the reasons we are all so captivated and in love with this sport.

“It was a tough weekend, but we will busy working hard over the next weeks to make some set-up improvements to the car and come back strong in Montreal.”