Max Verstappen branded George Russell a “d***head” as the pair clashed in the pitlane after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday. Verstappen approached Russell to exchange words in the pits after contact between the duo on lap one left him furious during the race.
Russell apologised for the incident at turns one, two and three and appeared to blame the shunt on a lack of grip at the start. But, Verstappen refused to accept it and blasted the Mercedes youngster for the move. Verstappen said: “Mate we all have no grip. You need to leave a bit of space.” Russell replied: “Yeah, well what do you want me to do?”
To which his rival hit back: “Then expect next time the same, you know.” As Russell walked off, Verstappen muttered: “D***head.” Sky Sports F1 then apologised for his language which was caught by their microphones.
Silver Arrows driver Russell kept his nose on the inside of turn two and tapped Verstappen’s right-hand side. The Dutchman pushed Red Bull to demand an investigation on team radio as he urged the stewards to penalise the ex-Williams driver.
And the contact appeared to cause some further headaches with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase confirming he had some floor damage.
Verstappen was left baffled by the lack of action from the FIA mid-race. He moaned on the radio: “Did he really drive into the side? I don’t understand how he can keep the position and he is damaging my car! I just find it ridiculous.”
Verstappen managed to re-pass Russell at a safety car restart with an aggressive move up the inside of turn one. But, the earlier damage appeared to affect Verstappen’s pace with the reigning champion unable to pass Charles Leclerc for P2.
After the chequered flag, team boss Christian Horner confirmed that the damage had cost Verstappen around three-quarters of a second per lap in pace.
Verstappen was also spotted shaking his head after surveying the damage to his floor. Cameras panned across to show heavy damage to the sidepod with a huge hole left in his Red Bull car.
Russell said he was “surprised” Verstappen was so angry in a post-race interview and suggested “nothing would be different” if the positions were reversed. However, Verstappen’s frustration continued as he appeared to hit back at Russell’s excuse.
He explained: “No, it’s not clarified. I don’t understand why you need to take so many risks, understeering into my sidepod and creating a hole.
“He had a beautiful way of explaining, ‘oh I locked up, look at the onboard’. but it’s fine. We got some good points but it is what it is.”
Sergio Perez cruised to victory in the sprint race after overtaking Leclerc at the start and fending off some early pressure from the Ferrari star. Lewis Hamilton failed to make any progress and dropped down the field to P7.
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