Max Verstappen picked up a 10-second penalty and three points on his superlicence after colliding with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix. He’s now on the verge of a race ban.
Red Bull instructed Verstappen to return fourth place to Russell after a run-in at the safety car restart. The world champion, who had just been passed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, left the track as he defended against the Mercedes.
Russell had rather launched his W15 down the inside before they made contact. The stewards eventually deemed it a racing incident, which meant Verstappen wouldn’t have been penalised.
Red Bull opted for a risk-averse approach in the heat of the moment, but their superstar driver sounded enraged over the radio.
He slowed down on the run to turn five as if he was letting Russell go, but they then came together at the apex. Many F1 fans felt Verstappen deserved a harsher penalty, perhaps even a disqualification.
The 10-second verdict dropped him to the bottom of the points, and he must now avoid further transgressions in Canada and Austria to avoid the race-ban threshold (12 penalty points in the space of a year).
Max Verstappen sounds like Lewis Hamilton as he strikes apologetic tone
Speaking to RacingNews365, Dutch racing driver Michael Bleekemolen commended Verstappen for his social media post on Monday. The 65-time race-winner admitted that his ‘frustration’ had led to a move that ‘shouldn’t have happened’.
Verstappen didn’t explicitly say sorry, but he appeared to be sending a message to both Russell and his team. With Yuki Tsunoda 13th, Red Bull picked up just one point from the event – their worst weekend since the 2022 Bahrain GP.
Bleekemolen says it’s ‘great’ that Verstappen was willing to accept he was in the wrong. Such statements are ‘rarely seen’ in motorsport.
Lewis Hamilton immediately apologised to the Dutchman after an impeding incident at the Monaco Grand Prix last month. After holding his hands up in parc ferme, he received a three-place grid penalty.
“I think it’s great that he does that,” Bleekemolen said. “I don’t think he is really out to [apologise] anymore. But based on this [post], he does [apologise] a little bit.
“It is also a bit difficult. I would not be so quick to walk up to someone and say ‘sorry’ if someone has hit me and I have hit them again. That rarely happens in motorsport anyway.
“Only Lewis Hamilton did it last time, although that was also a bit out of self-interest. Then he held up Max on the track during qualifying and said ‘sorry’ to Max. But he still got the penalty.”
Even Helmut Marko acknowledges Max Verstappen’s ‘misjudgement’ after George Russell clash
Speaking in late 2024, Russell said Verstappen couldn’t deal with ‘adversity’. The events in Barcelona arguably proved him right.
Verstappen was on course for at least third place behind the two McLarens before his race unravelled. He pitted during a safety-car period caused by Kimi Antonelli’s retirement, but was mystified to see the team bolt on hard tyres.
A monstrous slide on the cold rubber cost him a place to Leclerc, and he was seething at the perceived injustice of the Russell instruction. Verstappen is unquestionably an all-time great, but his impetuous reputation remains.
Red Bull have defended their no. 1 driver to the hilt, but Helmut Marko acknowledged Verstappen’s ‘misjudgement’ in a post-race interview. He admitted that the telemetry painted a damning picture as the title chaser lifted off before accelerating sharply on corner entry.
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