After a thought to himself of “I’m f***ed” as he got all out of shape on the Spanish GP restart, Max Verstappen then “lost his mind” in the clash with George Russell, believes Guenther Steiner.

It looked like Verstappen was on his way to a P3 finish in Barcelona despite a valiant effort with the three-stop strategy versus McLaren, but a late Safety Car instigated by an engine failure for Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was the trigger for Verstappen’s race to unravel.

Max Verstappen: Spanish GP drama a ‘lost his mind’ meltdown?

With all the frontrunners diving into the pits – Verstappen included – he was left on hard tyres versus softs for the cars around him.

Verstappen did well not to bin the Red Bull upon the restart, getting sideways going onto the main straight as Charles Leclerc pulled alongside, banged wheels, and completed the pass into Turn 1, before Russell gave the Dutchman a nudge into the run-off.

Being told to give P4 to Russell by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was the final straw for Verstappen, who rather than yielding at Turn 5 like it appeared he was shaping-up to do, got back on the power and hit the side of Russell’s Mercedes, triggering a 10-second penalty and three penalty points.

That left Verstappen P10 in the final classification.

Reflecting on the Verstappen/Russell incident during the Red Flags podcast, ex-Haas team principal and Red Bull technical operations director Guenther Steiner said: “I think he [Verstappen] lost his mind there. He was not used to that.

“He was so upset about the tyres they put him on. I think that triggered it, and not many drivers… When he got on the gas and got sideways at the restart, there are not many drivers who could catch a car like this.

“That was pretty brutal. He caught it, but obviously, in his mind, it was like, ‘I’m done here. I’m f***ed.’

“And just then, he couldn’t get it together anymore. It was weird because he’s a little temperamental, but not this much.”

And so, Steiner concluded: “Max, just in the end there, he did everything what he normally shouldn’t be doing.”

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Verstappen issued a statement on social media following the Spanish Grand Prix, acknowledging his incident with Russell as “not right”.

He said: “We had an exciting strategy and good race in Barcelona, till the safety car came out.

“Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn’t have happened.

“I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high.

“You win some together, you lose some together.

“See you in Montreal.”

Verstappen is now 49 points behind Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri, who took a fifth win of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix.

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