The reigning world champion received three penalty points for his part in the incident, which happened with three laps of the Spanish Grand Prix remaining.

Verstappen was frustrated at being asked by Red Bull to give up his position to Russell, who had attempted to pass him off track at the Safety Car restart.

As the Red Bull driver slowed down at Turn 5 to allow Russell to pass, he suddenly accelerated and veered into his British rival.

The stewards handed Verstappen a 10-second-penalty for the incident and added three penalty points to his licence, putting him just one point away from the 12-point threshold that triggers an automatic race ban for the following event.

However, when asked about a potential race ban ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, the Dutchman shrugged off concerns.

“It’s there right, there’s nothing I can do about it, so we just focus ahead and try to do the best we can every single time,” Verstappen said.

“It’s not changing my approach and I cannot speak for others.

“If you look at it in general, yeah, missing a race is not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world.”

After initially downplaying his role in the incident, Verstappen later conceded in a social media post that it was a “move that was not right and shouldn’t have happened.”

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He added that he had since caught up with Russell after bumping into each other at the airport and cleared the air with the Mercedes driver.

“We were both travelling out – so all good,” Verstappen said. “I think we all live and learn, right?

“And I explained, I mean, immediately on the Monday my view, so [we] just move on and try to have a good weekend here.”

Russell, who recovered from the incident to finish fourth in Barcelona, said he was initially surprised that Verstappen took responsibility for the contact, and added that he felt the incident was behind them after their airport meeting.

“I was a bit surprised to see he had taken responsibility, so fine,” Russell said.

“We actually bumped into each other at the airport the other day but I actually completely forgot we crashed into each other a few days prior. (So) no issues.”

When asked about a possible race ban for Verstappen, Russell insisted the rules are the same for all drivers.

“I think that’s how it should be in racing,” Russell said. “At the end of the day if you take on risky moves and you get it wrong you get penalised and, if you get your points, you’ll be banned for a race.

“I’m not going to sit here and say X, Y, Z because it’s ultimately not really my problem. It’s his problem. I’m looking forward to the weekend and then go from there. That’s racing.”

Verstappen sits third in the drivers’ standings after Spain, 28 points ahead of Russell in fourth.