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Verstappen rages at Russell after Baku F1 sprint clash
Verstappen, who finished third, was chased by fast-starting Russell to the first 90-degree left-hander sequence at the Baku City Circuit.
An aggressive Russell tapped Verstappen’s sidepod into Turn 2 and caused the Dutchman to slide, giving Russell the momentum to extend into Turn 3. Verstappen then had to give way when nudging the outer wall of Turn 3.
The Red Bull driver went into a rage over the incident on the team radio, resulting in damage to his side pod.
“I don’t understand how he can keep the position, he’s damaging my car. It’s kind of ridiculous,” he raged at his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.
With FIA stewards handling the incident alone, Verstappen then overtook the Briton again after the safety car to finish second behind team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. three.
In the parc ferme, Verstappen confronted Russell over contact issues, and Russell pointed to a lack of grip in the first few corners as the reason for their contact.
During the heated encounter, Verstappen apparently did not accept Russell’s explanation and went on to call the Mercedes driver a “bastard” as he walked away.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photography: Mark Sutton/ motorsport pictures
Asked if he could clarify the incident with Russell, Verstappen said: “Not yet … I just don’t understand why you need to take such a big risk on the first lap.
“He understeered into my sidepod and created a hole. We both had cold tires and it locked up easily.”
Speaking of Russell’s apology, Verstappen said: “In his beautiful way of explaining ‘oh man, I locked it, look at the car on the car’…it doesn’t make sense.
“But it’s okay, we still got into P3, got some good points, but that’s how it is.
“There’s a hole in the side pod, it doesn’t look too good, but that’s it, we’ll look at it tomorrow.”
Esteban Ocon had a great Sunday afternoon. Across the streets of Monaco, the Frenchman appeared to be at one with his Alps, which eventually even earned him a podium finish. Ocon told a news conference that he looked back on the weekend with a very good feeling.
The Red Bull driver was last in Sunday’s race and was out in Q1 qualifying.
He went on to make five pit stops in a dismal race that saw him twice passed by team-mate and race winner Max Verstappen, who now leads the championship by 39 points.
Although it marked Perez’s first game of the season without scoring, the Mexican said his error was “costly” and “unacceptable”.
He said: “We paid for my mistake and it was very costly. I just have to apologize to my whole team because it was unacceptable for this kind of mistake to be made.
“I have to move on and learn from it, I can’t afford another zero in the tournament.”
Despite the poor finish, Perez had a “very good” start to the race, finishing 15th on lap 30, but dropped back into the standings after a couple of incidents and a period of rain.
He also collided with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in the corner on lap 34, breaking his front wing.
Perez said he “didn’t know what happened” but was “considerably hurt” by the incident.
He added: “It went well. Unfortunately I hit traffic early on and that put us back where we were. Then it rained and we were one of the last to pit.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43
Photography: Simon Galloway/ motorsport pictures
“Then I cut the wall and it all became a mess. Me and Magnussen broke my front wing and he just came out of the chicane (deeply) and it went bad.
“When you’re in those positions, you’re always taking a lot of risks.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said it had been a “bad weekend” for Perez, blaming the poor result on a crash in qualifying that “put you at a disadvantage”.
He also said Perez was inside Ocon’s maintenance window before getting stuck behind slow-moving traffic.
Horner said: “We took a very aggressive strategy. Stopped on the first lap and you could see how fast he was in the free space and how much the others were saving.
“He actually came back inside the pit window on Esteban Ocon, and then (Logan) Sargeant and the slow car started to struggle and, of course, you couldn’t overtake.
“Then he got involved in a melee with (George) Russell and damaged the front wing. It was just one of those weekends where he got nothing done.
“He saved a lot of money in the pool, so he might need a new pair of underwear after that.
“For him, it’s just one of those weekends where[he should]turn the page and I think for him, the sooner he gets to Barcelona the better.”
Max Verstappen gave a masterclass in the narrow streets of Monte Carlo. The Dutchman once again showed his raw talent, whether in the rain or on dry tarmac. If the Dutchman fails to win, there are still two contenders for the title. Teammate Sergio Perez and his friend Fernando Alonso. Will the Spaniard get another chance at victory soon? Verstappen responded at a press conference.
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