Max Verstappen called George Russell a d**khead after the sprint race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as the pair made contact on the opening lap of the sprint on Saturday.
They went side by side through the opening three corners, with Russell on the inside and Verstappen on the outside. Russell made contact with Verstappen at Turn 2, before getting the move down at Turn 3.
On the safety car restart, Verstappen immediately overtook the Mercedes driver to take third place, where he finished in the sprint.
Moments after getting out of their cars, the pair shared some fiery words:
Russell: “I didn’t do it on purpose mate. I had no grip.”
Verstappen: “Mate, we all have no grip.”
Russell: “I know, I know. I’ll watch the onboard.”
Verstappen: We all need to leave a little bit of space.”
Russell: “What do you want me to do?”
Verstappen: “I expect next time ‘the same’, d**khead.”
Verstappen, who starts from second place for the main Grand Prix, carried a hole in his left sidepod for the remainder of the sprint as he finished behind winner Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc.
“I just don’t understand why you need to take so much risk,” said Verstappen post-race.
“Lap 1, he just understeered in my sidepod, created a hole. We all have cold tyres, it’s easy to lick up.
“And his beautiful way of explaining ‘Oh mate, I locked up. Look at the onboard’. It doesn’t make sense. But it’s fine. We still got P3, got some good points – it is what it is.”
