“Very clear footage” was shown on Red Bull-owned ServusTV of Max Verstappen getting “rammed” by Charles Leclerc in Barcelona, says Helmut Marko.

Yet, the fact that no punishment was issued by the FIA stewards, Marko claims, “upsets” Verstappen further ahead of a later incident between he and George Russell, for which Verstappen was given a costly 10-second time penalty and three Super Licence points.

Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc clash: FIA verdict correct?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Verstappen’s three-stop strategy was torn apart by a late Safety Car appearance to cover Kimi Antonelli’s stricken Mercedes, the Italian having come to a stop in the Turn 10 gravel with an engine failure.

That prompted a mass final round of pit-stops, with hard tyres the only option Red Bull had for Verstappen, which left him up against soft-tyred rivals upon the restart.

Verstappen got all out of shape exiting the final turn which allowed Leclerc to pull alongside him down the straight, the duo banging wheels as they carried on down to Turn 1 where Leclerc completed the pass.

The stewards launched an investigation into the incident, but determining that neither driver was “wholly or predominantly to blame”, something they noted both drivers agreed with, no further action was taken.

However, Red Bull senior advisor and driver programme boss Helmut Marko took more of a dim view after what he watched on ServusTV.

“I have to say in Max’s defence: ServusTV showed very clear footage on Monday of Max being rammed by Leclerc at 300 km/h in Barcelona,” said Marko in an OE24 interview.

“But nothing happened. Of course, that upsets him too.”

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And what followed was a further unravelling of Verstappen’s race, as contact with Mercedes’ George Russell at Turn 1 sent the Red Bull driver into the run-off, while Verstappen was then ordered to give P4 to Russell, triggering further contact with the Mercedes born out of frustration at Turn 5.

Leclerc would address his incident with Verstappen following the race, accusing the reigning four-time World Champion of trying to “squeeze” him, though he played down the severity of what happened.

“I probably would have been very vocal if it was the other way around,” Leclerc admitted to the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“Because you are fighting for the third place so [he was] just trying everything to get that third place back.

“And I think he knew that on track it would be very difficult with the tyres he was on.

“Honestly, I don’t have any particular feeling about it. There was nothing special. I overtook on the inside. He tried to squeeze me on the dirty side of the track. Then I had the upper hand because I had more speed because of the mistake he had done.

“And then I was trying to take the slipstream of the McLaren, went a tiny bit to the left, he didn’t seem to want to move at all.

“We touched a little bit, but there was nothing.”

Officially classified P10, Verstappen has fallen 49 points behind Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri, who took a fifth win of the season in Barcelona.

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