Max Verstappen issues statement with F1 champion at risk of race ban
Callum McAvoy
Max Verstappen is on the verge of receiving a one-race ban from Formula 1 following his controversial collision with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix.
In the final laps of Sunday’s race, which was won by Oscar Piastri, the pair made contact at the safety car restart, with Verstappen subsequently cutting turn one.
Red Bull asked the irate Dutchman to let Russell overtake him and initially he pulled aside at turn five, appearing to comply.
But suddenly, Verstappen drove into the side of his rival’s Mercedes, slightly damaging both cars before finally letting the Brit past.
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After the race, the four-time champion essentially confessed to deliberately causing the crash, with Russell and the rest of the grid left stunned by the incident.
While initially bullish, Verstappen apologised for the incident on Monday morning via a statement on social media: ‘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.
‘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.’
How close is Max Verstappen to a race ban?
Stewards immediately investigated the crash and quickly slapped Verstappen with a 10-second time penalty, dropping from fifth to 10th in the race result and costing him valuable points in the championship battle with Piastri and Lando Norris.
Explaining their decision, they said: ‘From the radio communications, it was clear that the driver of Car 1 [Verstappen] was asked by his team to “give the position back” to Car 63 [Russell] for what they perceived to be an earlier breach by Car 1 for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage (in fact, we had later determined that we would take no further action in relation to that incident).
F1 Grand Prix of Spain
George Russell was left shocked by Verstappen’s actions (Photo: Getty)
‘The driver of Car 1 was clearly unhappy with his team’s request to give the position back. At the approach to Turn 5, Car 1 significantly reduced its speed thereby appearing to allow Car 63 to overtake.
‘However, after Car 63 got ahead of Car 1 at the entry of Turn 5, Car 1 suddenly accelerated and collided with Car 63. The collision was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Car 1. We therefore imposed a 10 second time penalty on Car 1.’
But the stewards also handed Verstappen three penalty points on his superlicence, bringing his tally up to 11 – if a driver receives 12 points over a 12-month period they will be handed a one-race ban.
F1 Grand Prix of Spain - Final Practice
Christian Horner could lose his star driver to suspension (Photo: Getty)
Fortunately for the Red Bull star, two of the points he’s accumulated will expire soon, on June 30.
Unfortunately for him, there are two more grand prix before the end of the month – Canada on June 15 and Austria on June 29 – one more point at either will see him suspended.
‘You know, you can never guarantee anything,’ Red Bull boss Christian Horner replied when asked if he was worried about his star driver getting a ban.
‘I mean, he’s just got to keep his nose clean in the next couple of races, and then the first points come off at the end of June.’
Nico Rosberg calls for Max Verstappen to be disqualified
On commentary duty for Sky Sports, 2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg, was left outraged by Verstappen’s actions and immediately called for him to be disqualified from the race.
‘Wow, that’s bad bad bad. He just rammed him full on. You need to black flag him,’ the German said.
‘In Max’s eyes he’s 100 per cent in the right. “Why are you telling me to do this, watch this I will show you what he did”. Slowed down and rammed into him which is even worse. To slow down and ram into another driver is pretty bad.
‘That [penalty] is a very lenient one from my point of view. Remember Sebastian Vettel against Lewis Hamilton in Baku 2017. Vettel got a 10-second stop and go penalty for that incident back then.
‘It looked like a very intentional retaliation. Wait for the opponent, go ramming into him, just like you felt the other guy rammed into you at Turn 1.
‘That’s something which is extremely unacceptable and 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.’
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