Spanish Grand Prix: Max Verstappen escapes being disqualified after "deliberate" crash with George Russell

Red Bull put the four-time world champion onto hard tyres when the safety car was brought out, following Kimi Antonelli’s retirement on lap 55. He was swallowed up on the restart, with Charles Leclerc immediately overtaking him as he found himself wheel-to-wheel with Russell’s Mercedes.

On lap 64, after being told by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to let Russell past, the Brit made a move around the outside of turn five - only for Verstappen to speed up at the apex and crash into him.

As Oscar Piastri crossed the finish line to win the race for McLaren, Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty by the stewards, demoting him from fifth place to tenth.

Former world champion Nico Rosberg, who was commentating alongside David Croft for Sky Sports, described the incident as deliberate. “He slowed down to ram into another driver,” Rosberg said. “Max just gave away a load of championship points there.”

Rosberg called for the Dutchman to be “black flagged”, which would have disqualified him from the race entirely.

Writing for BBC Sport, ex-Formula 2 driver Olli Caldwell added: “Max Verstappen moved to the left on the exit of turn four and slowed considerably to do what his team asked him to do and let George Russell past.

“The second Russell was about half way alongside him, Verstappen just floored it past the braking zone and locked up his inside front tyre driving straight into the side of Russell.”