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George Russell accused Formula 1 rival Max Verstappen of letting himself down with “totally unnecessary” driving that he likened to bad online racing, after their controversial clash in the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen hit Russell at Turn 5 late in the Barcelona race, attempting to re-pass the Mercedes driver immediately after complying with an instruction from Red Bull to let Russell go by after Verstappen had previously stayed ahead of him by going off-track at Turn 1.
The incident was bizarre as Verstappen had to accelerate again after letting Russell past, then brake late, but also he failed to turn in like normal on the inside so just slammed into the side of the Mercedes - which Russell said “felt very deliberate”.
Speaking to media after the race, Russell said several times he did not know what Verstappen was thinking, especially as it resulted in Russell still finishing fourth and a 10-second penalty dropping Verstappen to 10th.
“It's something that I've seen numerous times in sim racing, and iRacing, and never have I seen it in a Formula 1 race,” he said. “So 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, and it's a shame for all the sort of young kids looking up aspiring to be Formula 1 drivers.
“So 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.”
When Russell’s comments about the impact on younger drivers watching that race were put to Verstappen, he replied: “OK, well I’ll bring some tissues next time.”
Russell wanted to review the incident before commenting on whether Verstappen definitely drove into him on purpose.
But when asked about 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg claiming during Sky Sports F1’s coverage that Verstappen should have been disqualified, Russell suggested that he agreed and that a 10-second penalty was too lenient - if the stewards felt it was intentional.
“We cannot deliberately crash into another driver,” said Russell.
“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 advantage.
“It’s down for stewards to determine if it’s deliberate or not, if they do think it's deliberate, they need to have a hard precedent.”
Russell’s team boss Toto Wolff was also unsure if it was “road rage” - claiming it was surely “too obvious” to be the intention, but at the same time being baffled by what the intention could have been.
“I don't know what he aimed for,” said Wolff.
“Did he want to let George pass and immediately repass? Put George the car ahead and then, you know, like the old DRS games, letting him pass the right way or…
“For me it's just incomprehensible. But I don't know exactly what the motivations were and I don't want to jump on it and say, ‘you know, this was road rage’.
“Let's see what his arguments are. It wasn’t nice.”
Russell also reiterated that Verstappen’s driving was out of place for a driver of his calibre, especially in F1.
He seemed to compare Verstappen to the controversial ex-Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum when he said there was “maybe one British driver in Formula E” who would do what Verstappen did, but “not in Formula 1”.
And Russell also goaded Verstappen slightly by suggesting it was especially self-defeating as Verstappen had a chance of getting back into the top three, having only been vulnerable at the safety restart because he was on hard tyres that were initially a lot slower.
“It seemed all very strange and bizarre and I really don't know what was going through his mind,” said Russell.
“As I said it's something that you’ve seen before in simulator races and karting, but never F1.
“It doesn't really make sense to deliberately crash into somebody and risk damaging your own car, risk a penalty.
“And he could have come back for fighting for a podium. Charles [Leclerc] really dropped off at the end pushing those soft tyres too hard.
“Obviously, he was probably frustrated on the hard tyres, lost out in the beginning, but it was still five laps to go.”
