Max Verstappen refused to deny he deliberately crashed into George Russell as the Spanish Grand Prix ended in dramatic fashion.
Oscar Piastri took victory in Barcelona ahead of team-mate Lando Norris but it was behind the McLaren duo where the chaos ensued in the final five laps after a safety car.
Verstappen, unlike those around him, was put on hard tyres for the restart, a decision that left him frustrated with his team, and the Dutchman’s move swiftly deteriorated from there.
He was overtaken by Charles Leclerc, with the two touching down the straight, and Verstappen was then forced off track when contact was made as Russell attempted to overtake on the inside at turn one.
Verstappen was told by his race engineer to give the place back to Russell and the four-time world champion appeared to be doing so as he slowed down, only to then lunge into the Mercedes and make contact.
The Red Bull driver was handed a ten-second penalty, dropping him down to tenth as he lost further ground in the world-title race. He also received three penalty points, taking his 12-month tally to 11 and just one away from a race ban.
Verstappen is now 49 points behind Oscar Piastri but dismissed those concerns, insisting the car was not fast enough anyway to compete with McLaren.
Asked after the race if the move on Russell was intentional, Verstappen responded: “Does it matter?
“Yeah? That’s great. I mean I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.”
In a spiky interview, it was then put to Verstappen that while he remains an “incredible” driver, incidents like this could change how fans view him.
Max Verstappen is told to let George Russell through and then the two collide! 😲 pic.twitter.com/SpNBwLoGaj
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 1, 2025
He said: “Yeah? Ok, well that’s your opinion. Yeah. We’ll leave it there.”
Former world champion Nico Rosberg was on commentary for the race and suggested that Verstappen could have had no complaints had a black flag been shown to disqualify him.
"It looked like a very intentional retaliation,” Rosberg said. “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."
Russell and Verstappen have previously clashed, with the pair involved in a war of words towards the end of last season.
It has been friendlier this year until this flashpoint, and Russell said Verstappen had “let himself down”.
“I mean I was as surprised as you guys were,” he said. “I've seen the manoeuvres before on simulator games and go karting but never in F1.”
Russell added: “You see in Austin last year, [he made] some of the best moves ever, Mexico he lets himself down a bit. You go to Imola, one of the best moves that we've all seen in a long time and then this happens.”
