Johnny Herbert calls for Max Verstappen disqualification for George Russell clash in the F1 Spanish GP

Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert has backed Nico Rosberg's call that Max Verstappen should have been disqualified from the F1 Spanish GP for his collision with George Russell. The race result in Barcelona seemed set in stone with a few laps left when the late safety car turned things on its head.

Max Verstappen was on hard tires during the safety car restart, extremely vulnerable to the chasing pack. That led to the driver making a mistake at the restart, which helped Charles Leclerc jump him. Verstappen then lost his cool a few laps later while ceding position to George Russell and seemingly hit the Briton intentionally.

For the incident where he might have intentionally hit another car, Max Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty and three penalty points. Many in the audience weren't happy, though, with Nico Rosberg calling out for a black flag and immediate disqualification of the driver. Former FIA steward Johnny Herbert backed the call by saying that he also expected a black flag.

Talking to RoobetAlternatives, Johnny Herbert felt that the incident was intentional from Verstappen and shouldn't have happened:

“I totally agree with Nico Rosberg: Max Verstappen deserved a black flag and should have been disqualified. There’s a point where you have to be hard on the driver when there have been many of these types of incidents. Verstappen is the best driver on the track, with the best racecraft and judgement, but there is always a story with him."

He added:

"It’s usually some kind of racing incident we all end up talking about with Verstappen, unfortunately. It was clear as day that Verstappen’s move on George Russell was on purpose."

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Max Verstappen doesn't need to make such moves - Johnny Herbert

Making an assertion that far too many people have reiterated quite a few times about Max Verstappen, Johnny Herbert said that the sad part about all of it is that the driver doesn't need to do these things.

Talking about how the big blot of Spain takes away from the magical overtake he pulled off in Imola, Herbert said:

"I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again until I’m blue in the face: Verstappen doesn’t need to make these moves. He has the skill to make clear overtakes, and the wheel banging is probably to make a point because of what happened at Turn 1 on the restart with Russell. He felt aggrieved at having to give the place back."

Verstappen ended up completing the horror weekend in Barcelona by finishing P10 in the race and falling 49 points in the championship to Oscar Piastri. He's also on the verge of a race ban, with 11 F1 penalty points.