There was no justification for Max Verstappen’s rash and futile act of retribution at the Spanish Grand Prix, when he deliberately drove into the side of George Russell’s car. The world champion knows it and on Monday he admitted as much with something of a mea culpa on social media. Yet it also must be considered that it is part and parcel of what makes Verstappen so competitive, albeit in this case in an entirely unedifying and self‑defeating fashion.
Angry and frustrated at a sequence of events in Barcelona, including having to cede a place to Russell, Verstappen surrendered to his baser instincts. Having pulled over to give the place to Russell, he clearly then felt a point had to be made and accelerated back up the inside to collide with the Mercedes.
