George Russell and Toto Wolff share their views on what transpired in F1 Spanish GP, as Max Verstappen and Christian Horner present theirs.
Interestingly, after Lap 1, both Red Bull’s Verstappen and Mercedes’ Russell only saw each other when the Dutchman – on a different strategy – came to pass him on the track. For majority of the grand prix, they were apart and the moment they came together after safety car re-start, it created chaos.
Red Bull switched to three-stop strategy knowing their degradation was higher than McLaren. In a bid to put some pressure on them, they went for the strategy which didn’t gain them anything in terms of position, but didn’t cost them as well, with Charles Leclerc a bit far behind.
The safety car changed things as Red Bull were forced to pit onto the hard compound, considering they had used all the sets. They did have another set of soft but it had seven-eight laps done, which was same as Verstappen’s then compound. They instinctively opted for the hardest compound.
By then, no one had used them. With handful of laps at hand, Verstappen had to defend hard against Leclerc, Russell and potentially Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman had a snap at the exit on re-start, which allowed the Monegasque to make a move and get through him for third.
Russell tried the same at Turn 1, but Verstappen had to take the run-off. The stewards only noted the incident, but Red Bull pre-empted that the Dutchman would get a penalty and requested him to give back the position. He argued against it, but reluctantly slowed at Turn 5 to give way.
But the moment Russell went through on the outside, Verstappen sped up and the two made contact in a bizarre move. The stewards eventually handed him a 10s time penalty, which dropped him to 10th. The bigger loss is that he now has 11 points on super license and one more will result in a race ban.
The next time he will see a cut on those points is on June 30, which means he will race in Canada and Ausria with a race ban looming on top of his head. The big question remained post-race, if it was deliberate action by Verstappen in anger, or he was played games with Russell.
None of the three – Russell, Wolff and Horner – gave definitive answer as they didn’t know what was on Verstappen’s mind. The Dutchman had no regrets but admitted misjudgement on his part in the clash. He preferred not to speak on the collision, but provided small answers to some of it.
It included the one on him being a role model, and a response to Nico Roseberg. Horner explained the decision to choose the hard compound and hindsight situation. He agreed that frustration took over Verstappen, where he could see a podium slipping through his hands.
The stewards eventually noted that they would have taken no further action on the Turn 1 move. Horner noted that taking the previous actions into account, they pre-empted a penalty and requested Verstappen to give way. The lack of communication from FIA didn’t help either.
How it came about –
Horner: “I think you have to wind the clock back a little further than that to…obviously, the way that the race was panning out, we elected to take a three-stop. We committed to it pretty early on because we saw that the pace advantage and the tyre advantage that McLaren had on a straight fight wouldn’t be possible. And so we committed on Lap 12, I think it was, to the first stop and then Lap 28-29 and at that point McLaren were committed to a two-stop. They didn’t cover us and we were committed on to a three-stop which actually was playing out as the quicker strategy of the two. There was a chance, the problem was our tyre life wasn’t strong enough and that middle stint of McLaren was particularly strong. The only chance we had was a potential undercut that we gave a go with Max on that last set of tyres, on to his last set of softs. So he’d used all his softs and medium and then McLaren covered us with both Norris and Piastri.
“And then the safety car came out on Lap 54, which was probably the worst possible time in terms of our strategy because you’re faced with then the choice of do you stay out on an eight-lap-old, heavily-pushed soft tyre, at which point you would get eaten up at the restart. We thought there would be circa 10 racing laps left. Unfortunately the only set of tyres that we had available, having gone on to that three-stop strategy, was a new set of hards. And so our feeling was that a new set of hards was better than an eight-lap-old, heavily-degraded set of softs. So that’s what we did, we took the stop. Max had a snap at the restart, Charles got alongside him, it looked like he pulled left on him. And then George obviously tried to capitalise on that into Turn 1 and it was very, very marginal. Now on recent experience and looking at recent incidents, obviously it’s subjective if you’ve asked for guidance from the FIA, from the referee essentially there’s nothing come back, you can see that it’s been reported, it’s going to the stewards. It looked for all intents and purposes that it was going to be a penalty, so therefore the instruction was given to Max to give that place back, which he was obviously upset about and annoyed about because he felt that 1) he’d been left no space and 2) that George hadn’t been fully in control. So after obviously a conversation with his engineer, he elected to give the space back at Turn 5, there was contact between the two cars.
“I haven’t had a chance to speak to Max from his side, but obviously the stewards deemed that he caused a collision and got 10 seconds and some penalty points, unfortunately, which obviously was very frustrating because it leaves us with one point out of the afternoon, what should have been an easy podium. He’s out there doing his best. Of course, it’s always difficult when it just looks easier for the car ahead. Compared to the rest of the field, you can see that we were able to pull away. Each of the stints is just that McLaren are clearly a step ahead of the world.”
Move, deliberate –
Russell: “I don’t really know, to be honest. Probably as surprising for you guys as it was for me. I don’t know what he was thinking, but in the end, I finished fourth, he finished 10th, so, a bit of an unnecessary manoeuvre. Yeah, 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 manoeuvres 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.”
Verstappen: “The hard tyre didn’t have any grip, we didn’t have any good soft tyres left because we did that three-stop. That’s basically unlucky. I think up until then, it was looking quite good for us. We didn’t have, of course, the pace of the McLarens, but with that three-stop, it still looked quite racy out there, putting them at least a little bit under pressure in a way that they had to push, and but, yeah, unfortunately, that safety car just came at the at the wrong time. But that’s also part of racing. And then with the hard tyre, I had a big moment out of the last corner, because I couldn’t keep up with these soft tyres around me.
“Then on the straight I got driven into already, and then into Turn 1 as well. Then they told me to give the position back. But honestly, I think the biggest issue that we have is just that the racing standards, what is allowed, what isn’t, is not very natural. And that is quite frustrating. And of course, sometimes it works for you, sometimes it works against you. And today that worked against me. He [Russell] has his view, I have my view. It’s better to just focus on the race which I think was quite okay up until the safety car. I think it [collision with Russell] was a misjudgement. It was difficult enough, it was a big moment.”
Wolff: “I just heard, actually, that Max had the call to let him pass. I didn’t know. We were under the impression in the race that he had a problem with the car and that’s why he was so slow getting out of [Turn] 4. I mean, if it was road rage – which I can’t imagine because it was too obvious – then it’s not good. But the thing is, I don’t know what he aimed for. Did he want to let George pass and immediately repass, put George the car ahead? And then, like the old DRS games, letting him pass the right way? Or, for me, it’s just incomprehensible. But, again, I don’t know exactly what the motivations were and I don’t want to jump on it and say this was road rage, etc. Let’s see what his arguments are. It wasn’t nice.”
Horner: “I think it’s clear that you could hear that he was frustrated, he didn’t agree with both Charles and George. I haven’t had a chance to speak to him because he’s had to speak to you guys and now he’s up in the stewards with them talking about the Charles incident. So it is something that we’ll discuss internally and look at.”
How serious, stewards intervention (Rosberg say) –
Russell: “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 them for granted. As I said, it’s down to the stewards to determine if it’s deliberate or not. If they do think it’s deliberate, then they need to have precedence. But as I said, I’m not too bothered about it because that’s his problem, that’s the stewards’ problem. Ultimately, we were there to finish P4 I felt, probably should have been behind the McLaren and Max, that’s where we are as a team.”
Verstappen: “Yeah, that’s his opinion, everyone can have his opinion.”
Horner: “Nico’s quite sensational in the way he commentates, so we’ll leave it there. I haven’t had a chance to speak to Max. Obviously, you could hear how frustrated he was. He’d been barged out of the way at turn one. There was a lot of frustration that was in the car.”
Past grudge –
Russell: “I honestly don’t know [if it due to the past]. It seemed very strange and bizarre, I really don’t know what was going through his mind. As I said, it’s something that you’ve seen before in simulator races and go-karting, but never in F1. It doesn’t really make sense to deliberately crash into somebody and risk damaging your own car, risk a penalty. He could have come back fighting for the podium. Charles really dropped off at the end, used the soft tyres too hard, obviously he was a bit frustrated being on the hard tyres, lost out at the beginning but it was still five laps to go. I am not going to loose sleep on that.”
Pattern now –
Wolff: “There’s a pattern that I’ve read. The great ones, whether it’s in motor racing or in other sports, you just need to have the world against you and then perform at the highest possible level. That’s why sometimes these greats don’t recognise that the world is not against you. It’s just you who have made a mistake or you’ve screwed up, etc, etc. We haven’t seen any of these moments with Max for many years now. Obviously, I know the year 2021, that happened. I don’t know where it comes from.”
Strategy, idea of giving back position –
Verstappen: “At that point, I was not sure what soft tyre we had left. I knew that it was not going to be like a one lap old tyre, but, yeah, unfortunately, the hard tyre just was really poor. I thought it maybe could have been a bit better, but it wasn’t. And especially with six laps left, everyone can go flat out on a soft, and then you’re just grip limited compared to everyone else on the soft. For sure [felt like a sitting duck]. We’ll analyse it all but up until that point, we definitely did the right thing.”
Horner: “Right up until that safety car, we were a lot closer to the McLarens through strategy than we should have been. They should have been 20 seconds up the road, maybe more, and through the strategy we elected to take, it kept us in the hunt. We got a slight chance of an undercut at that last one. I don’t think we would have kept it, but we might have got track position. Up until that point, I felt that we’d done everything right. The pit stops had been strong, the strategy had been right. Unfortunately, safety car at that point comes out. You don’t want to stay on that set of tyres because you know everybody else has taken a fresh set. The only thing that we’ve got left is a new set of hearts that you’ve got no real knowledge of. In 20-20 hindsight, you’d have left him out, he would have got passed by the two McLarens? Would he have got passed by Leclerc?
“It’s all subjective, you never know. You make the decision with the information you have at hand. As I say, the risk we’re going onto the three-stop is that in a safety car scenario in the last third or quarter of the race, you’re exposed. You’re faced with the choice of a brand new set versus an eight-lap old set that have taken a bit of a pounding. With 20-20 hindsight, it’s very easy to say, stay out. Would he have finished third, fourth? Who knows, but you can only go with the information you have at hand. I don’t know how else you can [convey about penalty]…You can’t send him an email. He was obviously upset because, first of all, he’s had Leclerc take a swipe at him on the straight.
“Then he’s got dive bombed at turn one by George. The way these regulations are now, it’s all about where that front axle is. The drivers know the rules and they’re the rules that they’re playing to. Now, the argument is, was George under control at that point in time? Would he have made the corner? We’ve seen so many occasions this year where penalties have been given. We’ve seen it been noted. The next thing is you’re expecting to get a penalty. Do you know what? We’re going to have to give this place up.”
Who else can –
Russell: “Not in Formula 1. Maybe in Formula E (laughs). Maybe one British driver in Formula E, but…as I said, Max is one of the best in the world and it would be intriguing to know what he was thinking.”
Horner (Dan Ticktum potentially?): “It’s totally irrelevant.”
Kids look up to, regret –
Verstappen: “Okay well, I’ll bring some tissues next time. No, not necessarily. I have nothing to say…in life you shouldn’t regret too many things, you only live once.”
Penalty points, ban looming –
Horner: “You can never guarantee anything, he’s just got to keep his nose clean in the next couple of races and then the first points come off at the end of June.”
How race director can handle, process –
Horner: “I think that’s where it would be nice, as the referee, as a race director, to either say, play on or you need to give it back. I think it’s very hard for the team, subjectively, to try and make that call because you’re going on hysterical precedents. You’re looking at what you have in front of you and you’re trying to pre-empt what the stewards and the race directors are thinking. I think it would be beneficial to the teams, in that instance, for the race director to make that call and say you either give it back or you get a penalty rather than having to try and second-guess what the stewards are going to think.
“Yes, but you get nothing back [when asking race director]. So you ask a question but you get nothing back. I don’t know. It seems to be. It used to get some guidance but now it’s very subjective for the team to make that call. It’s unavailable whether he’s ahead of the impacts or not. We have a look at the course, we looked at all the slow-mo’s and it was really 50-50. Is George under control of the car? Would he have made the corner? It looked like he would have made the corner. So you make the call to say, look, we need to give this place up.”
Here’s all what happened: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-spanish-grand-prix-the-full-story-of-the-dramatic-collision-between-verstappen-and-russell.1833752272483223334
Here’s Max Verstappen losing out after re-start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-spanish-grand-prix-verstappen-loses-out-to-leclerc-on-the-safety-car-restart.1833740283761479282
Here’s race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-spanish-grand-prix-verstappen-snatches-p2-from-norris-at-turn-1-as-piastri-leads-on-the-race-start.1833732474981520181
Here’s how F1 Spanish GP panned out
