Max Verstappen on final warning as incident with George Russell threatens to derail championship aspirations

The Formula One world is up in arms after a moment of madness from Max Verstappen at the Spanish GP.

Max Verstappen clattered into a fresh controversy on Sunday when stewards ruled he rammed rival George Russell in the closing laps of an eventful Spanish Grand Prix.

The incident happened shortly after racing restarted with five laps left following a safety car. Verstappen immediately lost third to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and then went off the track as he tried to hold off Russell’s Mercedes.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team told their driver to hand the place to Russell, the Dutchman appeared about to do that as he slowed into turn five with two laps left. Instead he speared into the Mercedes – a ‘deliberate’ move that world champion Nico Rosberg says should have seen the Red Bull racer disqualified.

The four-time world champion finished fifth but was demoted to 10th after the stewards took a dim view of his actions and imposed a penalty for the race and later docked three points off his driving licence, putting him at risk of a one-race ban if he reoffends.

He said later that he was unhappy at the way Leclerc had passed him and Russell had tried to overtake.

The 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg told British broadcaster Sky that Verstappen should have been disqualified.

Max Verstappen clattered into a fresh controversy in Spain. Picture: David Ramos/Getty Images

“It looked like a very intentional retaliation,” Roseberg said.

“Wait for the opponent, go ramming into him, just like you felt the other guy rammed into you at turn one.

“I think the rules would be a black flag, yes. If you wait for your opponent to bang into him, that’s a black flag.”

After the race, Verstappen accused Leclerc of driving into him while overtaking and said Russell pushed him off track, forcing him to take to the escape road to retain fourth place.

Verstappen did not deny that his move on Russell – with whom he was involved in a war of words last season – was deliberate.

“Does it matter?” he said. “I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.” Verstappen brushed aside talk of his defence of his drivers’ title.

“We are way too slow anyway to fight for the title. I think that was clear again today,” he said.

Asked by Sky whether his reputation being tarnished by the collisions and penalty, he said: “Is it? Well that’s your opinion. We will leave it there.”

Russell said Verstappen’s move remind him of video games and that he should have been disqualified if it was intentional.

“I was as surprised as you guys were,” he told reporters.

“It felt very deliberate, to be honest.

“It’s something that I’ve seen numerous times in sim racing and in go-karting. Never have I seen it in a Formula 1 race. So that was something new.

“It’s a bit of a shame because Max is clearly one of the best drivers in the world. But manoeuvres like that are just totally unnecessary and sort of let him down.

“It’s a shame for all the young kids looking up, aspiring to be Formula 1 drivers. So as I said, I don’t know what he was thinking. In the end, I’m not going to lose sleep over it because I ultimately benefited from those antics.

“If it was truly deliberate, then absolutely [he should have been disqualified],” he added. “Because you cannot deliberately crash into another driver. We’re putting our lives on the line. We’re fortunate the cars are as safe as they are these days, but we shouldn’t take it for granted. It’s down to the stewards to determine if it’s deliberate or not.”

Leclerc and Verstappen were both called to the stewards’ office after the race to assist in more investigations into their collision.

Originally published as Max Verstappen on final warning as incident with George Russell threatens to derail championship aspirations