Although Max Verstappen acknowledged that he made a move in Spain that “was not right and shouldn’t have happened”, he did not actually apologise to either George Russell or Formula 1.

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.

Should Max Verstappen apologise to George Russell?

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 and clatter into Russell’s Mercedes.

Despite Sky F1 commentator Nico Rosberg calling for a “black flag” and Russell stating it “felt deliberate”, Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points on his superlicence.

The Red Bull driver was belligerent in his post-race comments, saying everyone is entitled to their opinion about his “situation” with Russell, but later held up his hand.

Sort of.

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On Monday morning, he took to social media to say: “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.”

But what he didn’t say in all of that was sorry. A sorry that former Mercedes F1 chief Norbert Haug felt was sorely lacking.

“I was shocked,” Haug told Sky Deutschland.

“I couldn’t imagine that someone would be punished [on track] like that. At least he apologised, but I think we need to examine the entire chain of circumstances.

“For me, the apology is missing two very simple words at the very end, ‘Sorry, George.’

“Maybe he can also apologise to the stewards. It shouldn’t have happened.

“It’s a good start, but a good ending counts for everything.

“And that’s why I would have expected him to say ‘I apologise’ to George.

“‘I apologise for my misconduct to the FIA ​​and all the fans watching’.

“He is a person who is admired, rightly admired, with absolute certainty the very best racing driver these days for a long time, and one must behave accordingly.”

Verstappen’s actions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya not only cost him and Red Bull championship points, with the Dutchman scoring just one to sit 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, but he’s now one penalty point away from a race ban.

The stewards ruled that the ‘collision was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Car 1’ and slapped Verstappen with three penalty points to bring his tally to 11.

He won’t lose any of those points before the end of June after the Canadian and Austrian grands prix.

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