Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen was at the centre of one of the season’s most controversial moments on Sunday.
The Spanish Grand Prix might be bidding farewell to the Formula 1 calendar in the near future, but fans will be desperate for the race to return if there’s a repeat of this year’s race.
Oscar Piastri won the race from pole position for McLaren but that doesn’t tell the full story.
He was joined on the podium by teammate Lando Norris and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, but for the vast majority of the race, it looked like Max Verstappen was guaranteed at least a top-10 finish.
Red Bull decided to put the Dutchman on the alternative strategy and allowed Verstappen to push harder than Norris and Piastri, hoping for a McLaren tactical hiccup.
All three leading drivers returned to their starting positions after completing what they thought were their final stops, and Gianpiero Lambiase continued to tell Verstappen he was putting his rivals under pressure with his pace.
However, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes blowing up brought out the safety car and left Verstappen and Lambiase with a conundrum.
It forced Red Bull to make a strategic decision they never wanted to make and the chaos that ensued afterwards left the Dutchman with a single point to his name.
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Naomi Schiff questions Red Bull radio call to Max Verstappen over George Russell
Racing driver and pundit Naomi Schiff was asked on Sky Sports F1 (1/6 4:22 pm) how Red Bull will be debriefing after what happened during the final laps of the race and said: “I mean, we did see him actually on the balcony of their hospitality having a big chat, we didn’t see Max, we think he disappeared off into his driver room.
“We saw a few of the main characters and it didn’t look like a very happy conversation and you can understand why.
“They’ve dropped so many points today, they were still within a fighting chance, within one race win of the points of the McLarens and today they’ve dropped it.
“I mean they’re 49 points behind Piastri with Max now and 39 behind Lando, that’s a significant chunk when they’ve got so much performance.
“Where did those mistakes go wrong? Should they maybe…they couldn’t have expected that safety car around here, we haven’t seen one in a long time.
“We’ve barely seen a yellow flag, so they went with the aggressive strategy, it put them in a difficult position to only have that hard at the end.
“But then yes, maybe GP [Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s race engineer] was a little too conservative by telling him to give the position back and then it’s just a knock-on effect.
“But Max needs to be able to keep his cool in these moments.”
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Max Verstappen faces questions over Charles Leclerc and George Russell moments
Verstappen nearly lost the car on the safety car restart and almost went from third to fifth by the time he reached the first corner.
Leclerc commented on his move on Verstappen after the race, but Lambiase telling the 27-year-old to hand a place back to Russell after they made contact at the first chicane led to the most controversial moment of the race.
F1 fans think Verstappen should have been given a bigger penalty and he now sits on 11 penalty points, meaning that he’s just one away from receiving a one-race ban.
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Oscar Piastri |
186 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
176 |
| 3 |
Max Verstappen |
137 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
111 |
| 5 |
Charles Leclerc |
94 |
| 6 |
Lewis Hamilton |
71 |
| 7 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
48 |
| 8 |
Alexander Albon |
42 |
| 9 |
Isack Hadjar |
21 |
| 10 |
Esteban Ocon |
20 |
That would put him close to a race ban which would make his quest to win a fifth consecutive drivers’ championship even more difficult.
Lambiase couldn’t have known how Verstappen was going to react to his message to allow Russell past, but given Red Bull’s previous attitude towards handing back positions, such as at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, it was a slightly surprising stance.
If there’s one thing that Verstappen has proven throughout his career, it’s that he tends to do his best work when he’s bouncing back from difficult situations.
