The incident occurred at Turn 5 late in the race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where Verstappen appeared to deliberately hit Russell’s Mercedes after growing frustrated over an earlier clash in which he accused the Brit of forcing him off track and was then told to return the position.
The Dutchman was handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident, dropping him from fifth to 10th, and post-race was given three penalty points on his Super Licence.
Initially unapologetic in his post-race interviews, sarcastically saying he’d “bring the tissues” when told of Russell’s frustration at the clash, Verstappen later softened his stance in a social media post.
“We had an exciting strategy and good race in Barcelona, till the safety car came out,” Verstappen posted to his Instagram account.
“Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn’t have happened.
“I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high. You win some together, you lose some together. See you in Montreal.”
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Since being posted on Monday night AEST, the post has received close to 800,000 likes.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also addressed the incident on Instagram, defending the team’s race strategy while acknowledging Verstappen’s apology during the post-race debrief.
“As a team we attacked on the three stop which was the better strategy and it was only the safety car which had us over,” Horner said. “We would never have been as close to Lando if it wasn’t for the three stopper.
“The safety car came out at the worst possible time for our strategy, we had the choice to stay out on older tyres or take the gamble with a new set of hard tyres. Hindsight is always 20/20, but we made the best decision at the time with the information we had.
“The result that followed was frustrating as it was looking to be an easy podium for Max and good Championship points. Max apologised in the debrief for his incident with Russell.
“That’s racing. It can turn in a split second. It is one of the reasons we are all so captivated and in love with this sport.
“It was a tough weekend, but we will busy working hard over the next weeks to make some set-up improvements to the car and come back strong in Montreal.”
Verstappen sits third in the drivers’ championship, 49 points behind leader Oscar Piastri.
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