Nico Rosberg did not back down on his stance that Max Verstappen should have been disqualified from the Spanish Grand Prix as per the Formula 1 rulebook.

The 2016 World Champion Rosberg made a fresh statement after calling for a Verstappen disqualification on live Sky F1 commentary after his collision with George Russell, while Verstappen told Sky F1’s Rachel Brookes “we’ll leave it there” in an awkward interview following the race.

Max Verstappen and George Russell clash: Bad example set?

Verstappen was left frustrated after race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase had ordered him to concede P4 to Russell – following a Turn 1 battle which had seen Verstappen leave the track and return still ahead of Russell – with the drivers later involved in an incident at Turn 5.

It appeared as though Verstappen was slowing to let Russell through around the outside, but the pair would bang wheels, both fortunately escaping damage. The stewards gave Verstappen a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision, the verdict dropping him to P10, and added three penalty points to his FIA Super Licence, taking him to 11, one away from a one-race ban.

Verstappen has since issued a statement to accept blame for the “not right” incident with Russell, though as he spoke to Sky F1‘s Rachel Brookes following the race, he did not want to dwell on that collision.

“Does it matter?” Verstappen bluntly responded when asked if the Russell incident was an intentional act.

As Brookes responded with “I think so to people watching”, Verstappen replied: “Yeah. Okay. That’s great. I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.”

The tensions returned later in the interview, as Brookes put it to Verstappen that after moments like his sensational Imola overtake on Oscar Piastri, which highlight “what an incredible driver you are”, moments such as that one seen with Russell in Barcelona mean “it’s horrible to see that shine taken off”.

“Is it?” Verstappen replied.

After Brookes added: “I think so, for fans and the kids watching, I think so,” Verstappen wrapped-up the conversation.

“Yeah? Okay, well, that’s your opinion,” said Verstappen. “We’ll leave it there.”

Rosberg gave his immediate reaction to that interview, explaining the steps that “put the lion over the boiling point” during the race.

Verstappen had attempted a three-stop strategy versus his title rivals at McLaren Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, but when a late Safety Car was deployed to cover Kimi Antonelli’s stricken Mercedes and the frontrunners all pitted – Verstappen included – he was left on hard tyres versus softs for the drivers around him.

Charles Leclerc came through at Turn 1 and Russell attempted to follow ahead of a banging of wheels which saw Verstappen take to the run-off, with the subsequent call to give P4 up to Russell adding further fuel to the fire which was Verstappen’s frustration.

“At least he didn’t lie about it, which I think is fair play, and just avoided to answer,” said Rosberg on Verstappen not saying the move on Russell was intentional at that stage. “So I think he managed that very well.

“Hats off to Rachel, also. That was a difficult interview to handle, and she did a very good job pushing the buttons there.

“But anyways, there’s no need to discuss. It’s like just super obvious. So he felt badly treated, even by his own team, because he was in the right with George Russell, because George Russell’s car was out of control, so he was allowed to stay in front. And even his engineer says, ‘Give the position back’, and that put the lion over the boiling point.

“And so, he just wanted to prove a point, prove a point against the rules also. So just waited for him, and then tried to do the same as George did to him, you know, and just ram him off from the inside, just that in this case, of course, it’s deliberate, and that’s not on. It’s not acceptable. You cannot do that. It’s not allowed.”

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And so, Rosberg remained of the opinion that he first expressed immediately after the incident took place, that being that Verstappen should have been shown the black flag, which would have meant disqualification from the Spanish Grand Prix.

“I think the rules, then would be black flag. Yeah,” said Rosberg when asked if he stood by what he said in-race.

“So that’s why I said, okay, if you wait for your opponent just to bang into him and crash into him, then that’s black flag.”

With Piastri taking a fifth win of the season to further strengthen his World Championship charge, Verstappen’s P10 result means he is now 49 points off Piastri at the top of the standings.

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