In the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen found himself in a dispute with old rival George Russell. Red Bull’s team deemed that the Dutchman had crossed the line. Fearing a ‘leaving the track and gaining an advantage’ notification, the team instructed him to let Russell pass. This was unnecessary, as the FIA later announced. This was particularly bitter for Verstappen, who later received a ten-second time penalty for a collision with the Brit.
Before the restart, Max Verstappen, who until that point had a view of a podium place behind the two McLarens, was put on hard tyres by Red Bull. Due to the lack of grip on the white rubber, he immediately lost his third place to Charles Leclerc. Not much later, he had to defend himself against George Russell, where Red Bull feared a penalty from the FIA. “Max, can you let Russell pass please?” came over the team radio. “What the f*ck“, Verstappen responded in disbelief. “My advice is to let him pass, those are the rules”, concluded race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase curtly.
‘No Further Action Taken’
At that very moment, Verstappen – intentionally or unintentionally – collided with Russell’s Mercedes. This resulted in a ten-second time penalty for him. The Dutchman fell back to tenth place and saw competitors Oscar Piastri (P1) and Lando Norris (P2) further extend their lead in the championship. Unnecessarily, as the FIA later revealed – Verstappen never had to give back the position to Russell.
“From the radio communication, it became clear that the driver of car 1 (Verstappen) was asked by his team to ‘give back the position’ to car 63 (Russell),” the stewards wrote in their official document. “This was due to what the team considered a previous violation where car 1 left the track and gained a lasting advantage. However, we later determined that we would not take any further action regarding that incident.”
