Mercedes F1 team boss Toto Wolff says, he doesn’t want to make any conclusions on the clash between Max Verstappen and George Russell in the closing stages of the Spanish GP race.
The incident between Verstappen and Russell
Verstappen was put onto hard tyres during the safety car period that was caused by Mercedes’s Kimi Antonelli around ten laps before the end. Red Bull threw him into the fight for the podium with a tyre disadvantage, because everyone around him were on used softs. Verstappen was frustrated over the tyre choice, asking for the reason why he was given the white-marked Pirelli’s.
At the restart, the Dutchman lost a position to Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and clashed with Russell in Turn 1. He cut the corner after being pushed wide, used the emergency exit and was back ahead of the Briton. Verstappen was then told to let the Mercedes through. Three laps to go, he did so for a split second and then attacked Russell into Turn 5, where he banged tyres with his rival.
Stewards gave the Red Bull driver a 10-second penalty for that collision, which dropped him to P10. Additionally, he was awarded three penalty points on his super licence, putting him on eleven on a 12-month period now. The next two race weekends need to be clean, as two points will expire on 30th June, a day after the Austrian Grand Prix.
Wolff not sure on Verstappen’s motivation behind the clash
“I just heard, actually, that Max had the call to let him pass, right? I didn’t know. We were under the impression in the race that he had a problem with the car, and that’s why he was so slow getting out of form,” Wolff said in his print media session after the F1 race for the Spanish GP.
“I mean, if it was road rage, which I can’t imagine, because it was too obvious, then it’s not good. But the thing is, I don’t know what he aimed for. Did he want to let George pass and immediately repass, put George the car ahead, and then, like the old DRS games, letting him pass the right way?
“For me, it’s just incomprehensible. But, again, I don’t know exactly what the motivations were, and I don’t want to jump on it and saying, ‘this was road rage,’ etc. Let’s see what his arguments are. It wasn’t nice.”
Regarding the Turn 1 incident, Wolff explained why Verstappen was told to give back the position to Russell: “He was told to let him pass because he was quicker through the emergency exit than he would have been on track.”
Verstappen/Leclerc incident shouldn’t happen at this speed, says Wolff
Wolff also shared his view on the incident between Charles Leclerc and Verstappen right after the restart of the Spanish GP. The Red Bull had a huge moment in the final corner, which invited Leclerc to get a big run and pass. Both touched in the straight, and the incident was investigated.
“That shouldn’t happen that at 300 plus kilometres an hour, two cars touch on the straights. These two know each other since a long time. I guess there’s a video on YouTube where this is exactly the same discussion they had today, they had in karts when they were 14. He rammed me off the track, or what is it? It was a ‘racing inchident’.
“I don’t know. Hard racing, over-hard racing, in my opinion,” he concluded.
However, the stewards decided against a penalty, as “neither driver was wholly or predominantly (was) to blame” for this incident.
Wolff sees a pattern with world champions reacting like Verstappen
Asked on what he thinks of Verstappen suddenly becoming “Mad Max” again in these moments, Wolff explained that there would be a pattern with champions in sports, as seen with Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna in the past.
“There’s a pattern that I’ve recognised with the great ones, whether it’s in motor racing or in other sports. You just need to have the world against you, and then you perform at the highest possible level, and that’s why sometimes these greats don’t recognise that actually the world is not against you, it’s just you who have made a mistake, or you’ve screwed up, etc, etc,” he explained.
“So we haven’t seen any of these moments with Max for many years now. Obviously, I know the year 2021 that happened, and I don’t know where it comes from.”
On Monday, Verstappen issued a short statement on his Instagram account, taking responsibility for the collision with Russell. Red Bull’s Christian Horner has revealed that Verstappen apologised to the team in the debrief after the race.
Both drivers came together a few times in recent months and seasons. Russell called out Verstappen for not being able to “deal with adversity“ at last year’s Qatar Grand Prix.
