- Max Verstappen and George Russell collided late on in Sunday’s Spanish GP
- Verstappen was handed a 10-second time penalty and completed in Tenth place
- Russell, who completed in fourth spot, later mentioned of the collision: ‘It felt deliberate’
Followers could not assist however see the humorous facet as Max Verstappen was named the Driver of the Day earlier than a 10-second penalty which noticed the Pink Bull man end Tenth within the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen was handed the penalty after colliding with George Russell within the dramatic last laps of the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday as tensions between the 2 had been reignited.
The incident with three laps of the race remaining as Verstappen’s crew instructed him to let Russell via after he had gained an unfair benefit earlier within the race.
The 27-year-old was clearly reluctant, replying ‘no, no, no, no,’ on the radio.
Nevertheless, he did then seem to conform as he moved off-line on a flip, seemingly providing Russell a route previous.
What adopted shocked viewers as Verstappen made contact with the facet of Russell’s Mercedes because the Brit tried to cross.
Russell was left surprised, instantly yelling ‘What the f***?’ over crew radio – a response that drew added consideration given his earlier criticism of FIA makes an attempt to clamp down on swearing throughout stay broadcasts.
Race stewards instantly launched an investigation and, after reviewing the footage, handed Verstappen a 10-second penalty for inflicting a collision.
Regardless of this Verstappen was named the Salesforce Driver of the Day, a lot to the amusement of followers on social media.
‘This must be the funniest Driver of the Day ever,’ wrote one with the graphic beneath.
Followers vote for the award and plenty of may have positioned their vote earlier than the controversial second with Russell came about.
After the sanction, the reigning world champion completed Tenth, with Oscar Piastri taking the chequered flag for McLaren.
Reacting to the incident in a post-race interview with Sky Sports activities, Russell mentioned: ‘I used to be as stunned as you guys most likely had been.
‘I’ve seen these form of manoeuvres earlier than on simulated video games and in go-karting however by no means in Formulation One.
‘In the end, we got here dwelling in P4 and he got here dwelling in P10, so I do not actually know what was going via his thoughts. It felt deliberate within the second.’
Verstappen then gave a really spiky interview to Sky. The opening query requested whether or not his transfer on Russell had been intentional and he replied: ‘Does it matter?’
After the interviewer prompt that it did certainly matter to the followers, Verstappen sarcastically added: ‘OK, that is nice. I want to discuss the race than one single second.’
When it was put to him that his Tenth-place end had broken his hopes of retaining his crown as world champion, he hit again: ‘If there are any. I believe we’re method too gradual anyway to struggle for the title. I believe that was clear once more in the present day.’ Sunday’s outcome left Verstappen 49 factors behind chief Piastri within the drivers’ standings.
The interview ended with the reporter once more probing Verstappen in regards to the collision with Russell. It was put to Verstappen: ‘All of us see what an unimaginable driver you’re and it’s horrible to see that shine taken off.’
He shrugged his shoulders and replied: ‘Is it? Yeah, OK, that is your opinion. We’ll go away it there.’
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