Verstappen received post-race time penalty for his incident with Russell
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen has been handed a ten-second time penalty for his incident with his Mercedes rival George Russell which sees the Dutchman drop down the order to P10.
Max Verstappen was in contention for victory at the Spanish Grand Prix as he opted for an ambitious three-stop strategy.
However, a late safety car saw the field close up, and the Dutchman suffered a huge oversteer exiting the final corner as the safety car peeled into the pits. As a result of it, he lost his third place to Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes driver George Russell also launched multiple attacks on Verstappen. Red Bull instructed Verstappen to hand the place back to Russell following their scarp at Turn 1.
With just three laps left to go, the Dutchman slowed down at Turn 5, and Russell completed the move on the outside, but the reigning champion appeared to speed back up again, leading to contact between the pair.
The four-time F1 champion would eventually let Russell through into Turn 11, but the stewards elected to hand out a ten-second time penalty to Verstappen for causing a collision at Turn 5.
The penalty was applied post-race, dropping Verstappen from fifth to the final-points paying position in 10th while Nico Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton, Isack Hadjar, Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso all moved up the order.
Verstappen is now 49 points behind Oscar Piastri in the drivers' championship, as hopes of a fifth consecutive title begin to fade.
