01/06/2025 18:00
George Russell has aimed criticism at Max Verstappen following
their bizarre clash in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand
Prix. Following a late safety car restart, Russell attempted to
overtake Verstappen into the opening corner as they battled with
Charles Leclerc for the final spot on the podium. Verstappen took
to the escape road following minor contact with Russell and stayed
ahead of the Mercedes driver when he rejoined, before being
instructed to hand the place back. Verstappen fumed at the
instruction but appeared to pull to the side as the pair approached
Turn 4. However, he then made contact with Russell and was slapped
with a 10-second time penalty for the incident. Russell had an air
of pity when discussing Verstappen's approach, suggesting he is
setting a bad example for the next generation of drivers. "It felt
very deliberate, to be honest," Russell told media including
RacingNews365 . "It's something that I've seen numerous times in
sim racing, and iRacing - never have I seen it in an F1 race. 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 F1 drivers. 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."
George Russell wants 'hard precedent' if crash is deliberate
Verstappen's penalty dropped him to 10th at the chequered flag, but
the incident was heavily criticised by 2016 champion Nico Rosberg,
who called for Verstappen to be disqualified from the
classifications. While Russell was not completely sure if the
manoeuvre was deliberate, he stated the stewards should come down
hard on the Dutchman if they deem it to be. "Honestly, I need to
look back on it," Russell added. "If it was truly deliberate, then
absolutely [the penalty was too lenient] 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. If they do think
it's deliberate, then maybe they need to have a hard precedent.
"I'm not too bothered about it, because that's his problem, that's
the stewards' problem."
