Verstappen is currently marching towards a third successive world title, with his 2023 successes so far featuring little in the way of the wheel-to-wheel scrapping that characterised his 2021 success over Russell’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton and his early 2022 fights against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The Dutchman did mount a feisty defence against Carlos Sainz at the start of the recent Barcelona race, but that did not generate controversy after Verstappen kept enough of his car on track and Sainz felt “he defended well, ran me wide and did what he had to do”.
