Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has explained how the team slipped up by advising Max Verstappen to give up a position to George Russell at the last race.
The decision backfired badly as their frustrated driver collided with Russell as he passed, incurring a penalty which leaves him on the brink of an automatic ban. Making matters worse, the stewards later confirmed Red Bull did not have to give up the position to Russell.The situation unfolded after the pair clashed when Russell tried to pass Verstappen at turn one when the race restarted on lap 61. Verstappen went off on the outside of the corner and stayed ahead of the Mercedes driver.
Russell began to describe the incident on his radio, saying “I was up the inside, he just went…” before his race engineer Marcus Dudley interrupted: “I saw it, I saw.” They did not discuss the incident further.
“We have a process,” he told Sky. “The problem is you have one lap to make that decision as per the regulations.
“The still [photographs] showed that, axle to axle, George was ahead. George was on the radio making a large noise about ‘yeah, he needs to give that back, he needs to give that back’.”
The stewards ruled Verstappen was entitled to keep his position ahead of Russell because the Mercedes driver had lost control of his car and forced him off the track. Horner said the team focused on the fact Russell’s car had drawn fully alongside Verstappen’s.
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He drew a comparison to the situation on the first lap of this year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where Verstappen was penalised for leaving the track and rejoining ahead of Oscar Piastri. The McLaren driver had passed Verstappen on the inside approaching turn one and had not lost control of his car.
“It was so marginal,” said Horner. “Obviously the argument [is] ‘was he fully in control of the car’? George would have argued that he was, but as painful experience showed in Jeddah it was all about where that front axle was.”
Horner said the team asked race control for their opinion on the incident. Race control stopped advising teams on racing incidents three years ago.
“It had been referred to the stewards,” Horner explained. “We’d asked race control for their feedback and nothing came back in that so you’re trying to pre-empt what three stewards and the race director are thinking. And at that point [we] felt, ‘do you know what, for two points, we need to concede this place’. So that was the decision we made and it’s so, so marginal.”
While Verstappen was never going to be penalised for the original incident with Russell, his reaction to Red Bull’s call led to a collision with the Mercedes which did prompt a penalty. His 10-second penalty dropped him five places to 10th and he was given three penalty points on his licence which leaves him one away from an automatic ban.
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Verstappen’s conduct has provoked criticism in the past. He has been involved in a series of on-track incidents with drivers including Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, and lashed out at Esteban Ocon in the paddock following an incident between the pair during the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2018.
Horner admitted his driver can react “emotionally” which he said is a trait of other past great racing drivers. “He’s a driver that drives [with] a huge amount of emotion and it’s part of [what] gives him the brilliance that he has, the emotion that he drives with. He wears his heart on his sleeve and occasionally you make misjudgements and we’ve seen it with all the greats, whether it was Senna or Schumacher or all the great champions over the years.”
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2025 Spanish Grand Prix
- Russell’s radio comments influenced Red Bull’s decision to let him past Verstappen
- Verstappen says he won’t make any changes to his driving to avoid a ban
- ‘No issues’ with Verstappen but ‘it’d be different if he’d taken me out’ – Russell
- Ferrari “don’t want us to talk much” about “massive” Spanish GP problems – Hamilton
- Verstappen versus Russell is Formula 1’s best grudge match for years
Robbie1
13th June 2025, 20:32
But ofcourse no penalty for Mr I am never sorry and smack you head after I almost killed you…
An Sionnach
14th June 2025, 0:38
Interesting, thanks. This was a difficult one to decide on. Ultimately, not being in control of the car means being ahead is not important, so a driver cannot just make a lunge to be ahead and sort out everything else later. This is similar to the fact that you must remain within the white lines and under control unless forced off by the other driver.
I will withdraw my criticism of the Red Bull team. It would be good if the stewards’ decision could be to cede position or face a penalty in this situation.
As for George and Max, it is well within the realms of possibility that they both believed themselves to be in the right. I don’t think there’s an issue with George wanting the place and saying so on the radio, or with Max not wanting to give it up. Max should have surrendered the position or not done it, but should not have done what he did. George should not have pretended to have damage.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th June 2025, 10:51
Yes, he shouldn’t have let him past, he showed he can refuse even reasonable team orders, like that time in brazil with perez to try and helm him get 2nd in the championship, in a situation where he didn’t even have an important result to lose, he could’ve done that too if he believed he was in the right; this ended up costing him more.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
14th June 2025, 4:23
Clearly max drove straight past the apex, but the impact was kind of 50-50.
I almost think Red Bull are getting a little soft, and showed a chink in their armor. But perhaps that is Red Bull reacting to the number of penalties on Max’s card.
Max found himself compromised, and he needs more margin and to keep it cleaner even though McLaren will have this championship if the softer tire compounds don’t show up more than the hards.
Femke
14th June 2025, 9:41
If he wouldnt have let him pass it would be 10 seconds for gaining an advantage anyways. They gave that penalty in the same race twice already to driver who got bunped offtrack by lawson.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th June 2025, 10:53
The stewards said verstappen was in the right with the russell situation before their crash, so I’d be surprised if they’d have penalised him in that case.
BenjaminS (@benihana)
14th June 2025, 10:06
What this demonstrates to me is two things.
1) the rules seriously need a rethink as having to analyse data and still pictures within one lap to determine what should happen is just bloody nuts and stupid.
2) let the race director, not the stewards, decide what is to happen not within a lap but whenever he consults the stewards and issues a verdict.
A week later we are still discussing this and it makes zero sense why we should.