With Max Verstappen just one penalty point away from incurring a one-race ban, George Russell feels such a punishment “wouldn’t be unjust”.

Russell cast that verdict on Verstappen after their controversial collision in Spain put Verstappen on the brink of a ban, the stewards adding three penalty points to Verstappen’s Super Licence which takes him up to 11, with 12 automatically triggering a race ban.

George Russell: Max Verstappen ban ‘wouldn’t be injust’

The duo banged wheels in combat over P4 late in the Spanish Grand Prix, sending Verstappen into the run-off at Turn 1 as he returned to the track still ahead, Red Bull sending the call to allow Russell through.

It looked like Verstappen was going to oblige on the approach to Turn 5, but as Russell came around the outside, Verstappen got back on the gas, colliding with the Mercedes. The stewards issued a 10-second penalty which dropped Verstappen to P10 in the final classification, and post-race dished out three penalty points.

Verstappen cannot afford to pick another this weekend in Canada, or at the Austrian Grand Prix, and his situation receives no sympathy from Russell, who said “driving recklessly” has consequences.

Only one driver has received a race ban since the Super Licence system was introduced, that being Kevin Magnussen, who was forced to sit out the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Speaking on the prospect of a Verstappen race ban, Russell, as per Sky Sports, said: “If he gets to 12 points, it [a ban] wouldn’t be unjust.

“At the end of the day, that’s why the penalty points are there. If you keep driving recklessly you will accumulate points, and get punished with a race ban. You’ve got it in your own hands and it doesn’t go without risk.”

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Russell did offer Verstappen a defence against anyone who believed he purposely instigated their Spanish GP collision, as Russell explained what he believed to be Verstappen’s true intentions.

“He was trying to run me off the road,” Russell claimed. “I don’t think he was trying to intentionally crash into me. He wanted to just sort of scare me a bit, but he just misjudged it.

“Again, it wasn’t going to scare me, it was just all a bit surprising.”

While Verstappen stopped short of apologising publicly for what went down with Russell, he did accept that the incident was “not right” in a statement issued on social media afterwards.

This was also something which took Russell by surprise.

“I’m not looking for an apology. His actions cost him and they benefited me, so I should be almost thanking him,” he continued.

“Obviously I’d be feeling very differently if it took me out of the race. But it is good to see that he took accountability. I was a bit surprised about that.”

According to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, Verstappen apologised internally to the team for the incident with Russell.

Verstappen goes into the Canadian Grand Prix race weekend 49 points behind Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri.

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