Max Verstappen has admitted his controversial clash with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix was “not right”.

Verstappen and Russell collided with three laps remaining when battling for fourth, making contact at Turn Five, after the Red Bull driver had been told to let Russell through.

The stewards gave Verstappen a 10-second time penalty for the incident, which dropped him from fifth to 10th, while also adding two penalty points on to his super licence – putting him one point away from an automatic race ban.

Russell told Sky Sports F1 that the move “felt deliberate” and was “totally unnecessary”.

“We had an exciting strategy and good race in Barcelona, till the safety car came out,” he wrote on Instagram.

“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.”

Verstappen is now 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, who won the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Dutchman, who eventually let Russell through later in the lap, was not keen to speak about the incident post-race.

He told Sky Sports F1: “Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race rather than one single moment.”

What led to Verstappen’s clash with Russell?

Verstappen was on course to finish third behind the two McLarens until a Safety Car for Kimi Antonelli’s stricken Mercedes bunched the field together.

Red Bull put Verstappen on hard tyres, since they had no other new tyres, whereas everyone else in the top 10 was on softs.

Verstappen had a big snap of oversteer on the restart out of the last corner and was overtaken by Charles Leclerc, who briefly made contact with him.

Russell also tried to get through at Turn 1 but the pair touched and Verstappen cut the chicane to keep fourth place.

Red Bull told Verstappen to let Russell through, which appeared to anger the reigning world champion who was already frustrated.

2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg says Verstappen should have been “black flagged”.

George Russell was asked if he agreed with that opinion and said: “It’s not my place to say. Right now, I’m not going to give it any thought because we have our own problems to deal with.

“We are trying to make our car go faster. The Safety Car at the end shuffled things up. It’s down to the stewards to decide if it was deliberate or not.

“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 seems totally unnecessary and never seems to benefit himself.”

The 2025 Formula 1 season pauses for breath after the European triple-header before resuming live on Sky Sports F1 with the Canadian Grand Prix from June 13-15. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.