Lando Norris gives his reaction to the controversial Max Verstappen-George Russell clash at the 2025 Spanish GP

McLaren driver Lando Norris gave a short but hilarious reaction to the controversial incident between Max Verstappen and George Russell during the 2025 Spanish GP. The Dutch driver found himself facing the ire of the race stewards after he rammed into the side of Russell's W16 during the final laps of the race in Barcelona.

The 27-year-old was fighting for the final podium spot alongside Charles Leclerc and George Russell on the late safety car restart. After losing out on P3 to the Ferrari driver, Verstappen banged wheels with the Brit and went off the track.

A couple of laps later, the four-time F1 world champion was instructed to give P4 to Russell, which frustrated the former as he believed that he had not done anything wrong. He later rammed into the side of the Mercedes to express his anger over the situation and earned himself a 10-second penalty.

When the incident was shown in the cooldown room, Lando Norris, who finished P2, had a hilarious take on the situation. Referring to the popular arcade go-kart racing video game from Nintendo, he said:

"I’ve done that before in Mario Kart."

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After his 10-second penalty, Max Verstappen eventually finished the race in P10 and now sits 49 points behind Oscar Piastri.

George Russell gives his take on the Max Verstappen incident

Mercedes driver George Russell said he was "surprised" by Max Verstappen's decision to clash with him on the track, as he claimed that the move does not happen often in F1.

Speaking with Sky Sports, the three-time F1 race winner said:

"I was as surprised as you guys were. I've seen those sort of manoeuvres before on simulator games and go-karting but never in F1. Ultimately we came home in P4 and he came home in P10. I don't really know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment, so it felt surprising."

When he was asked if the Red Bull driver should have been given a black flag, Russell replied:

"It's not my place to say. Right now, I'm not going to give it any thought because we have our own problems to deal with. We are trying to make our car go faster. The Safety Car at the end shuffled things up. It's down to the stewards to decide if it was deliberate or not."

George Russell ultimately finished the Spanish GP in P4 behind Charles Leclerc and got 12 points from the race.

About the author

Devang is a Formula 1 and NASCAR journalist at Sportskeeda with 3500+ articles and over 5 million reads under his belt. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and has a total experience of 3.5 years.

To keep up with the sport’s developments, Devang watches every single session and comes up with unique angles for the stories, from the readers’ perspective, using his expertise in the field. He strives to report accurate, ethical and relevant data by reading information from verified sources in the field, ones that are also trusted by industry experts.

Currently, his favorite drivers on the grid are Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo; he is particularly impressed by how the two drivers rarely lose their cool and approach everything with a smile on their faces. He classifies himself as a ‘Tifosi’ and is a Charles Leclerc fan.

Devang is a sports buff and when he is away from his keyboard, he watches other sports like cricket, tennis, badminton, and football, to name a few.

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Edited by Luke Koshi