"It was unnecessary": Red Bull's Helmut Marko in rare criticism of Max Verstappen for the George Russell incident

Red Bull's Helmut Marko has given his take on the controversial Max Verstappen-George Russell incident at the 2025 Spanish GP and feels that the whole thing was quite unnecessary from the Dutch driver. The late safety car in Barcelona turned the entire race on its head.

As soon as the safety car came, all drivers had to pit for new tires. Since Max Verstappen was on a 3-stopper, the Dutch driver only had a fresh set of hard tires available for him. Every driver around him had a set of soft tires, which meant the Red Bull driver was vulnerable at the restart.

At the safety car restart, Max Verstappen made a slight error, which allowed Charles Leclerc to line up alongside him and eventually pass him into turn 1. At the same point, the Dutch driver also fended off a challenge from George Russell, who made slight contact with the Red Bull driver going into the turn.

Since Max Verstappen went off track as he took evasive action from the Mercedes, the Red Bull driver was under investigation for going off track and gaining an advantage. As a precautionary step, the team told the Dutch driver to give the position to the Mercedes driver.

Max Verstappen was enraged at the call made by the team, and in a strange set of circumstances, the Dutch driver's attempt to cede position to George Russell also saw him make contact with the Mercedes driver in a move that appeared deliberate from the outside.

The Dutch driver was given a 10-second penalty and three penalty points for the incident and is now perilously close to getting banned for a race. Talking about the incident on Servus TV, Red Bull's Helmut Marko was critical of the move by Verstappen as he called it unnecessary. He said,

"Max lifted off the throttle, so we all assumed he was letting Russell through. And then suddenly he accelerated again. I don’t know what kind of misjudgment or thought process was going on inside him. And then, as they say, all hell broke loose.”

He added,

"There have already been issues in the past.,” Marko said of Verstappen’s previous clashes with Russell. “It was unnecessary, and a lot of points lost. But, because of all the incidents and wrong decisions that unfortunately happened, emotions simply got the better of him.”

Max Verstappen was giving up position 'under protest'

When the call was made to the defending F1 champion, Max Verstappen protested against it, as he felt that he was well within his rights to keep the position. Explaining how the team wanted to play it safe and not get a 10-second penalty, Helmut Marko revealed that the call was relayed to Verstappen, and ultimately he was giving up the position begrudgingly when it all went haywire. He said,

“On the straight, I’d say Leclerc drove into Max’s car. Then came the situation with Russell [when the Briton attempted to pass into Turn 1 but went off the track]. And you have to say, Max knows the regulations in detail. He immediately said, ‘Hey, he was out of control, and that’s why I had to go wide.’"

He added,

“The internal discussion was that it was 50-50. And since it happened right after the safety car period, the impact of a 10-second penalty is much greater than if it happens mid-race. So, that was one thing. Max didn’t want to give the position back. But he was instructed to do so – he did it under protest.”

The entire race weekend was a complete disaster for Max Verstappen, as the driver is now 49 points behind Oscar Piastri in the 2025 championship standings. The four-time F1 champion also has a slower car under him, and that combination makes it hard for him to even challenge for the title regularly.