Christian Horner believes that help from race director Rui Marques could have prevented Max Verstappen’s clash with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman is now just one penalty point away from a race ban, leaving his title challenge hanging in the balance. Verstappen was already frustrated after Red Bull opted to bolt on hard compound tyres for a late safety car in Barcelona.
Both McLaren drivers ahead had softer rubber on, leaving the Dutchman in a precarious position for the final run of laps. After losing a position to Charles Leclerc, Verstappen came under pressure from George Russell. A tight wheel-to-wheel battle followed, and the Red Bull man was eventually told to hand the position to the Mercedes driver by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase after he was sent off the track in his defence of P4.
Verstappen was enraged by the decision and, after letting Russell ahead for a split second, he dived down the inside in an attempt to regain the position. The two cars banged wheels, leaving the Brit stunned, and the stewards took a dim view of the incident, hitting the reigning world champion with a 10-second penalty.
Horner believes that the clash could have been avoided. “That’s where it would be nice as the referee, as a race director, to either say, ‘Play on’ or, ‘You need to give it back’,” he explained.
“It’s very hard for the team subjectively to try and make that call because you’re going on historical precedent. You’re looking at what you have in front of you, and you’re trying to pre-empt what the stewards and the race directors are thinking.
“I think it would be beneficial to the teams in that instance for the race director to make that call and say, ‘You either give it back or you get a penalty’, rather than having to try and second-guess what are the stewards going to do.”
Verstappen is now the owner of 11 penalty points heading into next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, and while some of those will be removed at the end of June, the 27-year-old is now walking a tightrope.
All the while, the gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri continues to grow. The Australian is now 10 points clear of team-mate Lando Norris at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings, and 49 points ahead of Verstappen in third. A race ban, therefore, would all but end the four-time world champion’s hopes of retaining his crown.
