“I was a bit surprised”: George Russell admits he was caught off guard with Max Verstappen’s one-off apology after the Spanish GP

Max Verstappen intentionally rammed into George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix, which earned the reigning world champion a plethora of negative reputation. However, he later admitted that his emotions had the best of him, as he apologized for his actions at the European race. Russell was stunned at the fact that the Red Bull driver, notoriously famous for his unapologetic nature, had issued a sorry message.

Verstappen is the reigning world champion and has won 65 races in his career spanning a decade. While he has spent his last few years at the top of the sport, his lead has seemingly slipped away amid McLaren's resurgence on the F1 grid.

Despite this, the Dutchman aimed at taking the fight to the papaya duo at the Spanish Grand Prix with an unorthodox three-stopper. However, a late safety car messed up his plan, and he was left with a set of hard tires in comparison to his rivals on the soft tires at the restart.

This frustrated Verstappen, and the team's instruction to let Russell pass did not sit well with him as he drove into the Mercedes driver. This caused huge controversy, and Verstappen later apologized for his actions.

Witnessing the public apology, George Russell was left surprised as the four-time F1 champion took accountability for his actions, as he said, via Formula 1:

"Obviously it would have been a different feeling had it taken me out of the race but ultimately I benefitted from it and he was penalized. I was a bit surprised to see he had taken responsibility, so fine. But I haven't spoken to him about it. We actually bumped into each other at the airport the other day but I actually completely forgot we crashed into each other a few days prior. No issues."

The Red Bull driver has had his fair share of incidents with a myriad of drivers on the F1 grid, including former world champions like Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Kimi Raikkonen, just to name a few.

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Max Verstappen shared a concise life lesson on reflection from his clash with George Russell

Max Verstappen (L) and George Russell (R) at the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen's clash with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix was one for the history books. But, with the Dutchman taking responsibility for his actions on later reflection, he also learned a life lesson that day.

Talking about how the crash was just an incident in the grand scheme of things and how people live and learn, the 27-year-old said, via Formula 1:

"Basically we were both travelling out – so all good. I think we all live and learn, right? And I explained, I mean, immediately on the Monday my view, so [we] just move on and try to have a good weekend here. I think it’s quite clear I got penalised for something, so try not to do that again."

Verstappen leads George Russell in the Drivers' standings with a 26-point margin for the third spot on the table.