Max Verstappen has “no” regrets over his actions at the Spanish Grand Prix despite George Russell claiming their Turn 5 collision felt “very deliberate.”

Verstappen courted controversy at the Spanish Grand Prix when he made contact with Russell in a move that had pundits and drivers questioning whether it was deliberate.

Max Verstappen has ‘no’ regrets over George Russell Spain GP clash

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Verstappen and Russell lined up third and fifth in a late-race restart, with Charles Leclerc in between them.

The Ferrari driver attacked Verstappen for position and Russell sought to follow him through, only for Verstappen to head down the Turn 1 escape road and stay ahead.

Worried about a penalty, Red Bull told Verstappen to give the position to Russell.

He appeared to do that at Turn 5 as he slowed down only to jink to the right, hitting Russell’s Mercedes.

Sky F1 pundit Nico Rosberg cried foul, remarking: “He just crashed into Russell on purpose just to prove a point.

“That was horrible. That did not look good. That’s bad, bad, bad. That is seriously bad. He just rams him, full on.”

Verstappen was not black flagged but he was given a 10-second penalty as the stewards ruled that the “collision was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Car 1.”

They also imposed three penalty points on Verstappen’s superlicence, leaving the Red Bull driver one point away from a race ban.

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Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after the race, Russell was asked if he felt Verstappen’s actions were intentional.

“It felt very deliberate, to be honest,” he said before equating the move to something seen in sim racing, one of Verstappen’s favourite pastimes.

“It’s something that I’ve seen numerous times in sim racing and on iRacing.

“Never have I seen it in a Formula 1 race, so that was something new.

“It’s a bit of a shame, because Max is clearly one of the best drivers in the world, but manoeuvres like that are just totally unnecessary and sort of let him down.

“It’s a shame for all the young kids looking up, aspiring to be Formula 1 drivers.

“I don’t know what he was thinking. In the end, I’m not going to lose sleep over it because I ultimately benefited from those antics.”

Verstappen too was asked about the situation, but he had little to say.

Doing the rounds in the media pen, he was asked: “The situation with Russell, what is your take on that?”

Verstappen: “That was a situation, yeah.”

Reporter: “The touch with Russell. you seem to give him back the position, but then you still had that touch. I want to know why.”

Verstappen: “We hit each other.”

Reporter: “You could’ve avoided it.”

Verstappen: “Right.”

Reporter: “So my question is, why did it happen?”

Verstappen: “No clue.”

Reporter: “You don’t want to answer.”

Verstappen: “I don’t know.”

What he does know, though, is that it was perhaps a misjudgement on his part but it’s not one he wishes to talks about – with the media, nor with Russell.

“It was an error in judgement,” he told media including PlanetF1.com. “It’s no use talking about it any further. Everyone has their own view of it.

Asked whether he intends speaking with Russell, he said: “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. I have nothing to say to him.

“I think in life you shouldn’t regret too many things. You only live once.”

But does he regret it? “No.”

Although Verstappen has no regrets over Sunday, his actions have been condemned by former F1 drivers.

“His behaviour is a shame; as a four-time World Champion, he doesn’t need that,” Ralf Schumacher told Sky Deutschland.

“I don’t know what got into him. It’s clear that he’s frustrated, but that shouldn’t be the case. I think he realised today that things aren’t going as hoped and that the update didn’t work so well.”

Rosberg, meanwhile, reiterated his commentary opinion after the race, adding: “It looked like a very intentional retaliation.

“Wait for the opponent, go ramming into him, just like you felt the other guy rammed into you at Turn 1.

“That’s something which is extremely unacceptable and I think the rules would [call for] a black flag.

“If you wait for your opponent to bang into him, that’s a black flag.”

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