Russell: ‘I don’t really know what was going through his mind’ after Verstappen Spanish GP collision

Mercedes driver, George Russell, did not “know what was going through [Verstappen’s] mind“ as Max Verstappen did not follow team’s instruction to give the place back then colliding with Russell at the Spanish GP.

George Russell was involved in a messy battle with Verstappen after the Safety Car restart during the final laps of the Spanish GP.

The Mercedes driver “was as surprised” like those watching what was happening on track as he finished fourth. This is not the first time the two drivers did not see eye-to-eye, as Russell noted, “It’s just a shame something like that continues to occur.”

What happened on track?

During the final laps of the race, Verstappen found himself outside of track limits at the outside of track limits. Verstappen tried to overtake Charles Leclerc as Russell tried to make a move during the Safety Car restart. Once Verstappen came back to the track, he found himself ahead of George Russell. Verstappen was instructed to give the place back to Russell but ignored instructions.

Once Russell tried to take the place back, both drivers made contact. Verstappen did receive a 10-second penalty for the collision.

Russell told the media about the incident, “I mean, I was as surprised as you guys probably were. I mean, I’ve seen those sort of manoeuvres before on simulator games and in go-karts and manoeuvring in Formula 1.”

The Briton continued, “Ultimately, we came home in P4 and he came home in P10, so I don’t really know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment, so yeah, it was a bit surprising.”

Was a 10-second time penalty enough of a punishment for Russell?

Verstappen did receive a 10-second penalty for his collision with Russell. However, pundits talked about a possibility of a Black Flag for the Dutchman. When asked about his opinion about the penalty, Russell answered, “That’s not really my place to say, to be honest.”

The 27-year-old continued, “Right now, I’m not even going to give it any thought because we’ve got our own problems to deal with. We’re just trying to make our car go faster. We were sort of destined to finish P4 today, probably ahead of Charles and behind Max.

“Obviously, the Safety Car at the end to shuffle things up, but it’s down to the stewards to decide if it was deliberate or not. But obviously, you know, Max is such an amazing driver and so many people look up to him. It’s just a shame something like that continues to occur. It just seems totally unnecessary and it never seems to benefit himself.”

Putting on the GPDA hat

Russell serves as a Director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GDPA), a union for F1 Drivers. When asked if he or the GPDA can do anything about incidents like seen at the Spanish GP, Russell noted, “I mean, you know, I’m too close to give my opinion on behalf of the drivers.”

“But, you know, you see like in Austin last year, some of the best moves ever and then you go to Mexico and you sort of let yourself down a bit and then you go to Imola, one of the best moves that we’ve all seen in a long time and then this happens. As I said, it cost him and his team a lot of points. And Charles and I actually dropped off like a stone on those last two laps. He probably could have came back to fight for the podium.”

Russell stated he is not worried about this incident after the Spanish GP, as he tried to improve things internally at Mercedes.

“So as I said, I’m not going to lose sleep. We’ve got our own problems to deal with and that’s making our car go faster.”