Max Verstappen has expressed regret on Monday, the day after the incident with George Russell during the Spanish Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver says his action was mainly due to frustrations.
Verstappen was instructed by his team in the final phase of the race to let Russell pass. The two drivers had just fought a duel in an earlier corner. Verstappen disagreed with this, as evidenced by his communication on the pit radio.
The 27-year-old Verstappen initially seemed reluctant to move aside for the Mercedes driver, but then still steered into the Brit. The reigning world champion received a ten-second time penalty for this and fell back from fifth to tenth place.
Verstappen did not express regret for the incident on Sunday after the race, but on Monday he still eats humble pie. “We had an exciting strategy and drove a good race in Barcelona. Until the safety car came out,” the driver from Limburg writes on Instagram.
“Our tire choice until the end and some actions after the safety car fueled my frustrations. This led to an action that was not correct. This should not have happened. I always give everything on the track and emotions can run high. You win together and you lose together. See you in Montreal.”
Verstappen’s action led to outrage in Formula 1. Several drivers and team bosses expressed their surprise on Sunday about the behavior of the four-time world champion, including Russell.
“It’s a shame, because Max is one of the best drivers in the world,” Russell said. “Just look at that overtaking move in Imola. He is doing himself short. I also don’t know if this was personal. It was especially very strange, bizarre actually. It really makes no sense to do this deliberately.”
Verstappen is now only one penalty point away from a race suspension due to the action. He received three penalty points on his license, which puts him in the danger zone. Verstappen now has eleven penalty points in the past twelve months. At twelve penalty points, a driver is excluded for one race.