Max Verstappen has reacted furiously to George Russell after cutting him up during the sprint race of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez won the sprint race, with Charles Leclerc second ahead of Verstappen in third.
But the Dutch driver has been left incensed by the incident with Mercedes driver Russell on turn two of the first lap, which left a hole in the sidepod of the world champion’s Red Bull car.
After the race, Russell attempted to explain, stating: ‘I didn’t do it on purpose, mate. I had no grip. I just locked up.’
The Dutchman was not impressed by this claim, retorting: ‘Mate, we all have no grip, we all need to leave a little bit of space.’
Max Verstappen and George Russell had a bust-up following the Azerbiajan GP Sprint race
Verstappen told the British driver to ‘expect next time the same’ after being cut-up on the track
‘Watch the onboard’, the 25-year-old from King’s Lynn responded.
Verstappen replied: ‘Yeah, sure. Well expect next time the same. D***head.’
Afterwards, Russell explained the situation to Sky Sports. He said: ‘I was down the inside and you never risk that when you are on the outside and I’m not going to hold back because he is leading the championship.
‘I was surprised he was trying to hold it around the outside. He’s got more to lose than I have. Contact was not intentional, I wanted a clean fight. I was surprised he was resisting the position.
‘I am surprised why he was so angry, he still finished in P3. He’s got enough experience to know that if you are trying to overtake on the outside someone could run into you on the inside. I don’t think it would have been any different if the positions had been reversed.’
Verstappen and Russell were in close combat during the opening two turns of the 17-lap race
Verstappen has been a vocal opponent to sprint races, and he was not impressed with Russell’s tactics during the first two corners of the 17-lap race.
The Dutchman issued a number of radio complaints as the British driver took third place – although Verstappen was able to claw back the place later in the contest.
Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said the overtake was done ‘without contact as well’, to which the two-time World Champion acidly replied: ‘I know how to do that’.
The Dutch driver starts Sunday’s main event in second place on the grid, behind Frenchman Leclerc, but Russell is back in 11th place.