Max Verstappen may have courted controversy with his late-race move on George Russell in Spain, but at least he did “not give up” like Lewis Hamilton did against Nico Hulkenberg.

That’s the opinion of former Red Bull driver Sebastien Buemi.

Max Verstappen never ‘gives up’, but did Lewis Hamilton in Spain?

Verstappen and Hamilton both found themselves under attack after a late-race Safety Car at the Spanish Grand Prix, Bernd Maylander putting in the laps when Kimi Antonelli’s W16 suffered an engine failure that put him into the gravel at Turn 10.

Restarting on lap 61, Verstappen was attacked by Charles Leclerc with minor contact between the two before the Ferrari driver overtook him for third place.

Russell tried to capitalise, but as he and Verstappen bounced off one another, the Red Bull driver went down the escape road and came back out ahead.

Red Bull told Verstappen to allow Russell back through, a request that the Dutchman was unhappy about. He did, however, appear to oblige into Turn 5 only to jink to the right and hit Russell as the Mercedes driver came through.

Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points on his Super Licence, putting him one point away from an automatic race ban.

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Hamilton was running behind them in sixth place, but he wasn’t involved in the fight and looked to be on course to score eight points only to be overtaken by the Sauber of Hulkenberg.

That earned him a telling-off by former F1 driver Pedro de la Rosa, who told DAZN: “He saw it was a Sauber behind, he was looking further ahead, and thought: ‘Meh, it doesn’t matter.’”

It mattered as Hamilton lost P6 to the Sauber driver, only regaining it when Verstappen’s penalty was applied.

Buemi claims that race highlighted the difference between the reigning World Champion, Verstappen, and his predecessor, Hamilton.

Asked by RacingNews365 what he made of Verstappen’s antics against Russell, Buemi started: “Yeah, of course, everyone has a different view. He was on the hard tyres, it was obviously very difficult.

“He had that moment coming out of the last corner. We all know Max, he fights, he’s not just going to give up like that.”

He then turned the focus onto Hamilton.

“On the other hand,” he continued, “I got a bit surprised when Lewis got overtaken by Hulkenberg.

“I thought, looking from the outside again, I would have thought he would close the door, but somehow he didn’t.

“And, I mean, Max, when you watch, he’s not going to give up, he’s going to fight very hard. So, of course, where is the limit is always difficult, but within that he’s not going to give up.”

Verstappen, though, may have to ‘give up’ in Canada and Austria as one small transgression could see the Dutchman banned for a Grand Prix.

After Austria though, he’ll lose two of his penalty points under the rolling 12-month system, which will give him a bit more breathing room.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has backed him to keep it clear with Verstappen’s Spanish GP penalty points his first of this season.

Asked about his driver being banned, he told OE24: “No, no, that won’t happen. He’s got himself under control so far.”f

Verstappen is third in the Drivers’ Championship, 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.

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