George Russell has revealed that he shared a private chat at the airport with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen after the pair clashed on track at the Spanish Grand Prix. The incident led to a 10-second penalty for the Dutchman, dropping him to the brink of the top 10 and dealing a devastating blow to his title hopes.
“We bumped into each other at the airport a few days ago on Sunday morning when I was going to Roland Garros,” Russell explained in Montreal.
“To be honest, I totally forgot about Barcelona because he was there with his newborn. And we were at the security machine. So he just had a quick chat, and then he was busy folding the pram down to put it through the machine.” The clash between two of F1’s biggest rivals has been the biggest talking point heading into this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Some pundits called for Verstappen to be disqualified off the back of the incident, perceiving the four-time world champion to have deliberately rammed into Russell after being told to concede a position to the Mercedes man.
Russell, however, did not see it this way. “I think he was trying to run me off the road, but I don’t think he was trying to intentionally crash into me,” he said. “I think he just misjudged it.”
As well as a devastating 10-second time penalty, Verstappen was hit with three penalty points by the stewards. This leaves him within one of an automatic race suspension, which would likely bring an end to his dwindling title hopes. Russell made it clear that this would be a deserved outcome. “If he gets his 12 points, it wouldn’t be unjust, you know,” he professed. “So that’s literally why it’s there.”
Russell wants to maximise the awkward position that his rival now finds himself in. “We have to be smart and use it to our advantage,” he said. “I’m going to continue racing exactly the same because at the end of the day, that’s what I did last week, and I benefited from it.
“And as we said, if you do keep driving like that, you’ll accumulate your points and you’ll get punished. Ultimately, he got punished for it. So, from my side, kind of long may it continue and for a neutral, it spices things up a little bit.”
Russell has a lot to gain from Verstappen’s predicament. The British racer currently sits fourth in the Drivers’ Championship standings, 26 points behind the Red Bull man, and is looking to strengthen his position as he prepares to negotiate a new contract with Mercedes for 2026 and beyond.