Team radio reveals Max Verstappen fury amid George Russell F1 Spanish GP drama
Max Verstappen and George Russell vented annoyance via team radio
A team radio conversation involving Max Verstappen revealed his annoyance at the incident with George Russell in Barcelona.
Verstappen was hit with a 10-second penalty for contact with Russell at the F1 Spanish Grand Prix which demoted him from P5 to P10.
When the Mercedes driver lunged at the Red Bull driver on Turn 1, Verstappen found himself using the escape road.
But he was then informed by his race engineer, via team radio, to concede track position back to Russell.
Max Verstappen angry on F1 team radio
Gianpiero Lambiase asked: “Max, can you let Russell through please? Let him through.”
Verstappen raged: “He just rammed me off the road!”
Lambiase said: “But that’s the rules.”
Separately, Russell said via team radio after the clash: “What the f***?”
Russell’s race engineer replied: “Don’t know mate.”
A baffled Russell said: “He just crashed into me.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was later questioned about whether Verstappen had “red mist”.
Russell made it clear that he felt Verstappen was in the wrong for their incident.
Nico Rosberg went a step further in his broadcast role with Sky Sports by insisting that a black flag was warranted for Verstappen’s actions.
Toto Wolff soon joined the voices in Barcelona condemning Verstappen’s driving.
Verstappen was obviously irritable in the immediate aftermath.
He endured an awkward TV interview with Sky Sports where he claimed it “doesn’t matter” if the contact with Russell was intentional or not.
His obvious frustration after the race was compounded by relistening to his angry team radio.
His exchanges with Lambiase are infamously fiery, however.
Verstappen is 49 points behind F1 championship leader Oscar Piastri after the Spanish Grand Prix.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
