Verstappen fumes over Russell contact and damage in Sprint

An angry Max Verstappen was at a loss to understand George Russell's "risky" move at the start of Saturday's Sprint event in Baku that led to a contact between the two drivers.

Verstappen and Russell were locked in a wheel-to-wheel battle as they negotiated the first three corners of the race.

But in Turn 2, where Russell was on the inside, the Briton hit the sidepod of his rival's Red Bull, heavily damaging the RB19's left flank, which inevitably shaved a few tenths of performance off of Verstappen's car.

"I don’t understand how he can keep the position and he is damaging my car. It's kinda ridiculous," quipped an an angry Verstappen over the radio to his Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

After the race, in Parc Fermé, an irate Verstappen, pointing to his car's damage, confronted Russell who defended his move, saying that cold tyres had also been a part of the issue.

As the Mercedes driver walked away, Verstappen cried out: "Expect it next time the same, you know… dickhead!"

• 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Sprint Race results

"I just don't understand why you need to take so much risk on Lap 1," commented Verstappen, who argued that Russell's lack of grip wasn't an excuse.

"He understeered into my sidepod, created a hole. We all have cold tyres, it's all easy to lock up."

"In his beautiful way of explaining 'Ah mate, I locked up, look at the on-board' ... it doesn't make sense. But it's fine, we still got into P3, got some good points, but it is what it is.

"There's a hole in the sidepod, it doesn't look that great, but it is what it is and we'll focus on tomorrow."

The Stewards were conspicuously mute on the run-in, which many agreed was a simple racing incident between the two drivers despite Verstappen's unilateral view on events.

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