George Russell has accused Max Verstappen of deliberately crashing into him during the closing stages of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, Afrosport reports.
The reigning world champion lost out to Charles Leclerc as the Barcelona race was coming to a close before he was forced wide by Russell.
The Dutch driver then held position after going across the run off, to which he was ordered to give fourth place back to Russell.
Verstappen was, however, frustrated by that instruction and went on to ram his Red Bull into the Mercedes.
The four-time world champion was handed a 10-second penalty, which demoted him to 10th in the final race classification. He was also handed three penalty points, which took him up to 11 points, and put him one point away from a race ban.
Reacting to the incident, Russell said: “I mean, I was as surprised as you guys probably were. I’ve seen those sorts of manoeuvres before on simulator games and in go-karting, but never in Formula 1.
“Ultimately, we came home in P4, and he came home in P10. I don’t really know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment. It was a bit surprising.”
Verstappen, reacting to the incident, took to his Instagram to explain that the wrong strategy call by Red Bull fuelled his frustration. He also acknowledged that the clash with Russell should never have happened.
“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,” he stated.
“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.”
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Verstappen has now fallen 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, who went on to win the race, his fifth win in five races this season.
