Max Verstappen fumes at George Russell after damaging car on opening lap of Azerbaijan GP Sprint

George Russell and Max Verstappen made contact in opening corners of Sprint race; Verstappen’s Red Bull left with big hole in side of car; Verstappen finished third in race as Sergio Perez took victory; Russell feels Verstappen should’ve backed out

Max Verstappen was left fuming at George Russell after the pair made contact on the opening lap of the Azerbaijan GP Sprint.

Verstappen’s Red Bull was left with a huge hole in its left sidepod after Russell’s Mercedes made contact as he moved into third place at Turn Three.

Championship leader Verstappen quickly reclaimed the position on a Safety Car restart, but the damage left him unable to mount a challenge on Charles Leclerc or race winner Sergio Perez.

Verstappen and Russell then had words in parc ferme post race.

“I had no grip,” Russell was heard saying to Verstappen.

The Dutchman replied: “We all have no grip, we all need to leave a little bit of space.

“I’d expect next time the same you know!”

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George Russell and Max Verstappen come together at the start of the Sprint, as the Mercedes drive moves up into third

Speaking to Sky Sports F1’s Naomi Schiff afterwards, Verstappen said: “It’s not clarified. I just don’t understand why you have to take so much risk.

“Lap One he understeers into my sidepod, creates a hole. We all have cold tyres, it’s easy to lock up.

“His beautiful way of explaining ‘oh mate, I locked up, look at the onboard,’ well it doesn’t make sense.

“It’s fine, we still got into P3, got some good points. It is what it is.”

Giving his side on the incident, Russell said he was not going to hold back just because Verstappen was the championship leader and feels the Red Bull driver should’ve backed out once he was up the inside.

“I was down the inside and I think as a driver you know the risks when you’re on the outside. I’m here to fight, I’m here to win and I’m not going to hold back just because he’s leading the championship,” Russell told Sky Sports F1.

“I was quite surprised he was still trying to hold it around the outside. It’s a street circuit and he has a lot more to lose than I have. None of the contact was intentional, I was doing my best to try and have a clean fight. I was quite surprised he was resistant to the position, I was on the inside.

“I was surprised why he was so angry to be honest. He still finished the race in P3. He’s got enough experience to know that if you’re trying to overtake a guy on the outside there’s a risk the guy on the inside is going to run wide into you.

“I don’t think anything would’ve been any different had the positions been reversed.”

More to follow…

Formula 1 is back! Watch the Azerbaijan Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday, build-up from 10.30am with lights out at 12pm. Get Sky Sports