Russell claims Verstappen "is one of the best drivers in the world, but his maneuvers let him down"
Following his incidents with reigning champion Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes driver George Russell claims that the Dutchman's manoeuvres are "totally unnecessary."
Reigning F1 champion 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.
Reflecting on his fierce battle with the four-time F1 champion, Russell stated that he thinks that Verstappen's manoeuvres at Barcelona were "totally unnecessary."
"It felt very deliberate, to be honest. It's something that I've seen numerous times in sim racing and on iRacing. Never have I seen it in a Formula 1 race. 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 maneuvers like that are just totally unnecessary and sort of lets him down. It's a shame for all the young kids looking up, aspiring to be Formula 1 drivers.
"So, as I said, 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."
Pressed on to reveal whether he thinks that Verstappen should have been disqualified, Russell said: "Honestly, I need to look back on it. If it was truly deliberate, then absolutely. Because you cannot deliberately crash into another driver.
"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 it for granted. As I said, it's down to the stewards to determine if it's deliberate or not."
