Max Verstappen has refused to fully comment on the clash with George Russell at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix that has put him on the edge of a race ban.
The Red Bull driver was given a 10-second penalty for colliding with Russell during the closing laps of the Barcelona race, having appeared to follow orders from his team to let the Mercedes driver through after their initial clash at Turn 1 when fighting for position, which saw the Dutch driver go off the track.
But during the incident into Turn 5, Verstappen clattered into Russell which saw the FIA stewards slap him with a 10s penalty that dropped him to 10th place in the final results.
Verstappen also picked up three penalty points on his licence which has pushed him to 11 in total over a 12-month period – meaning if he picks up one more point he will face a one-race ban. His next points don’t come off until after the Austrian GP at the end of June.
The four-time F1 world champion wasn’t drawn into giving his full assessment of the clash with Russell as he preferred to assess his race overall.
“Does it matter?” Verstappen said on Sky Sports F1 when asked for his side of events. “Yeah, okay, that’s great. I mean, I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.
“We tried to do a three-stop and I think it was quite good. It was quite racy, but we also needed it because we actually had quite a bit of degradation on the tyres. So I think that was good.
The first of two moments involving Verstappen and Russell
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images via Getty Images
“Unfortunately, then of course the safety car came out at the end and we basically ran out of tyres. And the hard tyre was clearly not the right tyre. I mean, when you only have six laps to go, everyone can go flat out.
“I was severely grip limited on the hard.”
Verstappen was left exposed after the late-race safety car period as those around him could pit for soft tyres while he only had a fresh set of hard tyres, to which Red Bull switched him.
The compound deficit left him unable to fire up the hard rubber as quickly as his soft-shod rivals, causing him to slide out of the final corner at the restart. This saw Charles Leclerc pull alongside him, which led to contact between the pair that was investigated after the race.
That incident then led to Verstappen being under threat from Russell at Turn 1, as his race unravelled from there.
“On the straight I got driven into already and then into Turn 1 as well, then they [Red Bull] told me to give the position back,” Verstappen said later to the written media. “But honestly I think the biggest issue that we have is just the racing standards. What is allowed, what isn’t, is not very natural and that is quite frustrating.
“Sometimes it works for you, sometimes it works against you and today that worked against me.”
Verstappen refused to be drawn into the debate – which led to 2016 F1 world champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Nico Rosberg stating the Dutch driver should’ve been disqualified for clashing with Russell.
“Yeah, that’s his opinion, everyone can have his opinion,” Verstappen said on Rosberg’s comments.
Verstappen also said he wouldn’t be seeking out Russell to discuss the clash.
Photos from Spanish GP – Race
In this article
Haydn Cobb
Formula 1
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