Verstappen refuses to comment on Russell incident

Max Verstappen refused to talk about the incident with George Russell that earned him a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with the Mercedes driver late in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Russell had forced Verstappen wide at Turn 1 during a late safety car restart, but Red Bull told the Dutchman to give the position back based on its interpretation of the driving regulations. Verstappen opposed that call over team radio but appeared to slow to allow Russell by on the run from Turn 4 to Turn 5, before then speeding up again and not initially turning in, with the pair making contact.

Asked for his view on the incident, Verstappen said: “Honestly it’s better to just focus on the race which was quite OK up until the safety car.”

In multiple broadcast interviews he also declined to comment, responding to a request from Sky Sports about whether the move was deliberate with: “Does it matter?”

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Russell stated his concern that younger drivers look up to Verstappen, but when those comments were put to the four-time world champion he remained dismissive.

“Oh, OK, well I’ll bring some tissues next time then," remarked. "He has his view, I have my view.”

Verstappen also said he did not regret the incident, despite picking up three penalty points that leave him just one away from a race ban until the end of June, and within three of such a suspension until late October.

Focusing on the race itself, Verstappen says he was simply unlucky with the safety car timing, as Red Bull only had a new set of hard tires to fit to his car after an aggressive three-stop strategy had impressively kept him in the mix with the McLaren drivers all afternoon.

“The hard tires didn’t have any grip," he said. "We didn’t have any good soft tires left as we did that three-stop – that’s basically unlucky. Up until then it was looking quite good for us. We didn’t have of course the pace of the McLarens but with the three-stop it still looked quite racy out there, putting them at least under a bit of pressure in a way that they had to push. Unfortunately, that safety car came at the wrong time but that’s part of racing.

“With the hard tire I had a big moment out of the last corner because I couldn’t keep up with the soft tires around me, then in the straight I got driven into already, then into Turn 1 as well. Then they told me to give the position back.

“But honestly, I think the biggest issue that we have is just that 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.”

The incident on the pit straight was with Charles Leclerc, and the Ferrari driver was investigated for the incident but the stewards opted to take no further action.