"Guy is a clown. An absolute clown": Max Verstappen faces fan backlash for controversial incident with George Russell

F1 fans were left raging after Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty for ramming his RB21 into George Russell at the 2025 Spanish GP. The Dutch driver had a positive start to his main race as he gained a position off the line and jumped McLaren driver Lando Norris for P2.

However, he was unable to hold onto his position and was later passed by the British driver before making his first pit stop of the race. After switching to a three-stop strategy, Verstappen had to make an additional stop for the late safety car.

After putting on the new hard tires, Max Verstappen was overtaken by Charles Leclerc and had a controversial moment with George Russell. The Mercedes driver had banged wheels with the Red Bull driver on the safety car restart in his bid to overtake the latter.

However, when the four-time F1 world champion was asked to give the position to the British driver, he did not take the decision lightly and later rammed into the latter while seemingly giving his P4. For his actions, Max Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty and finished in P10 in Barcelona.

F1 fans shared their reactions to Verstappen's penalty on social media platform X, with one fan claiming:

"10 seconds for that is lenient. You can't be doing that. Guy is a clown. An absolute f**ing clown. I want Toto having Fred running racing lines and demanding a greater penalty just like Horner did to Lewis post Silverstone."

"Should be a disqualification, it’s so clear, they have to change it."

"This is why I will never ever like this dude. One of the most talented drivers ever but does s8it like this. Should've been DQ'd," one fan wrote.

Here are some more reactions:

"Lost his head once again. He just can't handle the heat. Utter madness," said a fan.

"Max is such a baby," wrote a fan.

"It’s a DQ for anybody else on the grid other than Max," claimed another.

Max Verstappen scored just one point from the Spanish GP and now finds himself 49 points behind Oscar Piastri.

Former F1 champion calls out Max Verstappen for his antics in Spain

Nico Rosberg stated that he believed that Red Bull "messed up" by telling Verstappen to give the position to Russell. The former F1 world champion also criticized the Dutch driver for his actions.

On Sky Sports, the 2016 F1 champion said:

"Red Bull messed up by saying let George pass. That really annoyed Max because he knows George rammed him off. Max's eyes he's like 100 per cent in the right 'why are you telling me to do this, watch this I will show you what he did', slowed down and rammed into him which is even worse. To slow down and ram into another driver is pretty bad."

Max Verstappen has now finished out of podium positions in back-to-back race weekends.