Max Verstappen swore over the radio as he raged at the way George Russell overtook him at the start of the Sprint race in Baku.
The Mercedes racer got a good launch off the line and was soon scrapping with Verstappen. Their duel took place over several corners but, somehow, neither of them crashed despite them both refusing to budge an inch for the other.
Eventually Russell got past to take third place away from the Dutchman. And Verstappen was quickly on the radio to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to voice his displeasure over the way the Brit had overtaken.
"Hold it Max, these guys have got nothing to lose. Just remember that," said Lambiase, clearly hoping to keep his driver calm. But it did not work, as Verstappen soon shouted back: "No mate, he tapped me. That's how he got the position. F***ing report it!"
There was certainly contact between the two of them at the second corner, while at the third Verstappen knocked into the wall at the side of the track, but did not seem to pick up any significant damage.
Verstappen did not lost any ground on the Brit, as Yuki Tsunoda lost a tyre which came to a stop in the middle of the track, forcing a safety car. And he took full advantage to get the jump on Russell at the restart to retake third place.
He and his engineer then took another shot at Russell over the radio. "Lovely job Max, without contact as well, nicely done," quipped Lambiase, before Verstappen replied: "Yeah, I know how to do that," before swearing again.
Things got even better for Red Bull shortly afterwards. Sergio Perez had started the Sprint in second place behind Charles Leclerc, but he used all his street circuit prowess to move past the Ferrari racer on lap eight to take the lead.
Meanwhile, the big loser from the restart was Lewis Hamilton, who was squeezed out by Carlos Sainz and had to back out at the first corner, which meant he was also overtaking by Fernando Alonso who did not hesitate to pounce.
