Max Verstappen is on the verge of a race ban after the Spanish Grand Prix following his collision with George Russell.
The Dutchman collided with Russell in frustration after being informed by his team that he must hand fourth place back to the Mercedes driver, after he bailed out of an earlier overtaking move at Turn 1.
Verstappen was frustrated after being put on hard tyres at the restart, following a late Safety Car that was brought out by Andrea Kimi Antonelli stopping with a problem.
Red Bull were told to put on fresh tyres by Verstappen, but he only had the new set of hard tyres left. After being told that he needed to concede to Russell, the Dutchman took out his frustration on the Mercedes driver and was given a time penalty, which dropped him to 10th at the finish line.
Much has been said about the moment of madness from Verstappen, but former Red Bull driver Jaime Alguersuari believes it’s a sign that he has finally realised one thing when speaking on the After Lap podcast.
Jaime Alguersuari says championship battle over for Red Bull
Verstappen’s title defence has become even more tricky now that he is 20 points behind Lando Norris in the Drivers’ standings. But Alguersuari thinks it will be too difficult to catch the McLarens after seeing their form so far this season.
“The world championship is practically over, and Red Bull knows it, and all of F1 knows it because it will be a two-way battle,” said Alguersuari.
“There is one team that has superior technical and technological capabilities, slightly more so on some circuits than others. When you command in a solid and forceful way, you are the one who has everything in your favour and everything usually goes your way.
“When you are not, you make risky decisions, and some of them are going to go wrong. This is what we saw in Barcelona, and we’ll see it in other Grand Prix when it hasn’t yet sunk in that this is over. I think this was the first weekend that Max realised this is over.”
McLaren has been made quicker after Red Bull FIA complaint
If a car is quick around the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, it is generally known in F1 that it will suit the majority of tracks for the rest of the season.
McLaren finished the race 10 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but the gap could’ve been a lot higher without the Safety Car.
Guenther Steiner thinks McLaren are now faster since the introduction of the stronger front wing tests, which were introduced in Spain after strong lobbying from Red Bull.
McLaren did not bring a new front wing to Spain, perhaps showing that the secret to their success is not down to one single silver bullet, but rather a multitude of factors that culminate in them having the most consistent package.
