Verstappen's Russell hit was needless act of self-sabotage

Max Verstappen’s frustrated lunge on George Russell was a needless act of self-sabotage in Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen was left vulnerable in the final stint of the Barcelona race as during the late safety car period Red Bull opted for a pitstop and a change to hard tyres - a compound universally avoided by the rest of the grid in this race after its poor performance in practice.

The four-time world champion was immediately baffled and annoyed by the decision, which all but guaranteed he would fight a rearguard action to try to hang onto third in the five racing laps that were left in the grand prix, instead of trying to attack the two McLarens in front.

Verstappen then immediately lost third as he caught a wild rear slide exiting the final corner at the restart, allowing Charles Leclerc to draw alongside early on the start-finish straight.

Leclerc drifted into Verstappen’s path as he passed the Red Bull, causing light contact, which incensed Verstappen further - as did a brush with George Russell into the first corner as the Mercedes driver tried to take advantage and dive up the inside of Verstappen too.

Verstappen took to the run-off to stay ahead of Russell and complained over the radio about Leclerc and then about the instruction from Red Bull to let Russell past, as he clearly struggled to remain calm in a frenetic finale.

But while the events up to that point had been unfortunate, and Verstappen could be forgiven for the frustration of how his race had fallen apart, he was still in contention for a top-five finish. Until Verstappen made things much worse.

Finally ceding to the call to let Russell through, Verstappen slowed down between Turns 4 and 5 – only to then immediately speed back up and lunge inside into the Turn 5 left-hander, not turn in like normal (presumably trying to run Russell out wide) and hit the side of the Mercedes.

Verstappen reclaimed the position, and though he rendered the whole thing especially pointless by giving the place back later in the lap (properly this time), he still picked up a 10-second penalty for that and dropped to 10th in the final result, though avoided anything for the Turn 1 incident.

The lunge was a desperate move akin to the more egregious acts that Verstappen has committed in races where Red Bull has suddenly lost control of its race.

Sometimes that is the driving of others, sometimes it is Red Bull making a mistake, sometimes it is sheer bad luck - this could easily have been, to Verstappen anyway, a combination of all three resulting in a pointless retaliation that hurt his own result way more than any of the other factors.

The upshot is he has just a solitary point to show for a race that should have delivered a lot more and is now 49 points off the championship lead, having almost doubled his deficit in one afternoon.

Verstappen keeps talking down his championship prospects, given the strength of the McLaren and how its two drivers are performing. But his biggest strength this year has been a remarkable consistency and quality of execution, leaving nothing on the table.

Today was the first time Verstappen has quite obviously fallen short of that standard, even though the result had already been compromised for him.