George Russell and Max Verstappen made contact in opening corners of Sprint race; Verstappen's Red Bull left with big hole in side of car; Verstappen finished third in race as Sergio Perez took victory; Russell feels Verstappen should've backed out
Sunday 30 April 2023 11:33, UK
Max Verstappen was left fuming at George Russell after the pair made contact on the opening lap of the Azerbaijan GP Sprint.
Verstappen's Red Bull was left with a huge hole in its left sidepod after Russell's Mercedes made contact as the pair battled through Turn Two before the Briton claimed third place at the next corner.
Championship leader Verstappen quickly reclaimed the position on a Safety Car restart, but the damage left him unable to mount a challenge on Charles Leclerc or race winner Sergio Perez.
Verstappen and Russell then had words in parc ferme post-race.
"I had no grip," Russell was heard saying to Verstappen.
The Dutchman replied: "We all have no grip, we all need to leave a little bit of space.
"I'd expect next time the same you know!" before calling Russell a "d*******"
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 afterwards, Verstappen said: "I respect all the drivers a lot. It's a bit of common sense what you do on the first lap.
"You just have to picture yourself. They are off the pace and to risk that much on lap one, I think it's not very rewarding anyway because I would get him anyway within a few laps.
"There is potential to damage your car as well, not only my car. Of course, I had a hole in my sidepod, but he could also get a puncture and then his race is over as well.
"I thought I was fair in Turn Two. I gave him enough space. I think he locked up. He tells me 'I had cold tyres'. Well we all have cold tyres, that's not an excuse.
"I don't like it when somebody has that kind of reaction: 'I didn't do anything wrong' and just walks off. It is what it is.
"I was not overtaking him. He was overtaking me. I'm just trying to stay out of trouble. It's two views. It's my views, it's his view, whatever…
"[In his position] I would try to fight but not run into someone because that's not what you want to do.
"That's something you maybe learn over time. I had my moments as well when I first started in Formula 1 where you make some silly mistakes - a lock-up or potential damage. Maybe it's just part of the learning curve."
Giving his side on the incident, Russell said he was not going to hold back just because Verstappen was the championship leader and feels the Red Bull driver should've given up the corner.
"I was down the inside and I think as a driver you know the risks when you're on the outside. I'm here to fight, I'm here to win and I'm not going to hold back just because he's leading the championship," Russell told Sky Sports F1.
"I was quite surprised he was still trying to hold it around the outside. It's a street circuit and he has a lot more to lose than I have. None of the contact was intentional, I was doing my best to try and have a clean fight. I was quite surprised he was resistant to the position, I was on the inside.
"I was surprised why he was so angry to be honest. He still finished the race in P3. He's got enough experience to know that if you're trying to overtake a guy on the outside there's a risk the guy on the inside is going to run wide into you.
"I don't think anything would've been any different had the positions been reversed."
Russell later expanded: "There's a lot of 'F's' and whatnot from his side.
"From my corner, I was on the inside and I was quite surprised he was resisting it so much. I'm here to fight. The move was on.
"Ever since we were in go-karts at the age of eight, if you're on the inside at the corner, at the apex, it's your corner.
"If you're trying to hold on the outside you know the risk you're taking.
"We are all here to fight. We are not here to crash into each other. That's racing sometimes when you're pushing the limits.
"He's got a lot more to lose than me. He could have waited one lap and he'd have been straight back past me with their speed.
"I don't really know what more to say. I was quite surprised and wasn't expecting this reaction afterwards. From my side, the moves were all on.
"If the roles were reversed I'm sure he would have done exactly the same. It's part of racing and we'll move on.
"We're big boys. This is Formula 1."
Asked what he would have done if the positions were reversed, Russell said: "I wouldn't have tried to hold it around the outside on a street circuit.
"The driver on the inside has got the inside line and the corner is already lost.
"We've always said between us as drivers, if you're trying to overtake on the outside you know the risk. Hopefully, he has learned the risk today."
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner felt the battle between Verstappen and Russell had been hard but fair through the opening two corners, including where Verstappen's car was damaged at Turn Two.
However, Horner feels Russell was too aggressive with his final move into Turn Three which saw Verstappen squeezed towards the wall as the Mercedes driver took P3.
"From what I've seen, Turn One I could live with, Turn Two was hard racing between two hard racers. The bit that for me that felt a bit over the top was Turn Three," Horner told Sky Sports F1.
"At Turn Two, George is trying to leave enough space but it's a very tight corner and that's where the damage to the sidepod was done.
"At the next corner, George pushes him too far into the wall. Unfortunately, the result of it was quite a lot of bodywork damage and that cost him quite a bit of performance.
"When you see a hole like that it's got to be three-quarters of a second a lap at least, maybe more.
"The great thing is Max has another chance tomorrow and he starts on the front row. Understandably he was annoyed and he voiced his opinion to George. You can understand that, he's a competitive driver and when you get damage to your car and it affects your race, I'd be disappointed if he was happy with that.
"Max is like an elephant and he'll bank that for a while. He did a great job on the restart to pass George and was able to hang on to Charles. It was obviously a pretty big handicap for him to manage."
Analysis from 1996 world champion Damon Hill...
"I think it was racing. There's not much more that Max can do, he stayed on the outside and George slid into him and made contact.
"It's racing, if Max wanted to stay out of trouble he should have got pole position - that's the best way to stay out of trouble.
"It's the default mindset of someone like Max, that they're always right. It was the same with Michael (Schumacher), it was the same with Ayrton Senna, they have to be the guys who don't make mistakes, other people make mistakes. I don't think George needs to feel bad about it at all, he absolutely went for it.
"If you cast your mind back to let's say Monza (2021) with Lewis Hamilton, (Max) just didn't back out of the corner. So he's done it himself.
"He's a hard racer, they're both hard racers, George and Max, and this is what happens when you get a rock and a hard place together."
Analysis from Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok...
"Max has left racing room so he is expecting George to stay tighter on the inside. George with the lock-up understeers into the side of the Red Bull.
"You can talk about should Max have been in that position? Should he have taken the risk?
"But, in terms of pure racing mode, I can see why George apologised for that, because he did ultimately make the mistake of having a little bit of a lock-up.
"Max felt he can't go anymore to the outside, he's got the wall there as a limiting factor.
"I can understand why Max was upset by what happened there at Turn Two."
Analysis from Sky Sports F1's Naomi Schiff...
"Max says that George was taking risks but Max was also taking risks. I think on a day like today that Max has a little bit more to lose than George has. Of course they're both racing drivers and they both want to have that bit of tarmac, but it clearly cost him because you could see how much quicker Sergio was compared to Charles.
"I kind of agree with George. Max had more to lose in that situation, he's on the outside, he's closer to the wall and for him, having come into this weekend saying how he's not a fan of the sprint format, because there's so much risk. Why take the risk? Why not just back out of it and let George go, you know you're going to get past him with DRS.
"As upset as Max is right now and as much as he's putting the blame on George, I'm pretty sure once he has a look at all of the onboards there's something for him to learn in that as well. He might still maintain his opinion that George did the wrong thing but he'll also have a look at it and say 'well OK if I'd done this I might not have ended up in this same situation'."
Formula 1 is back! Watch the Azerbaijan Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday, build-up from 10.30am with lights out at 12pm. Get Sky Sports
