Asked what he thought Verstappen was trying to achieve in the manoeuvre at Barcelona’s Turn Five, Russell said: “I think he was trying to run me off the road, but I don’t think he was trying to intentionally crash into me. I think he just misjudged it.”
Verstappen had been on course for a strong third place in Barcelona until the safety car was deployed late in the race.
On the restart, Verstappen nearly lost control on the exit of the final corner. He was immediately passed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the straight, the two cars lightly touching as their trajectories converged, and then by Russell into the first corner, where they banged wheels.
Verstappen accused Russell of barging him off the track but after stewards launched an investigation into him leaving the track and gaining an advantage, Red Bull decided to ask him to let Russell by, to avoid a penalty.
When Russell initially went to overtake Verstappen, the Dutchman turned into him.
Verstappen said: “It was just a very frustrating few laps in a row. I got driven into in the straights. I almost crashed already with these hard tyres. Then I got driven into in Turn One. Then they tell me that I have to give the place back. I’m like, ‘that makes no sense’. So it was like a lot of things that just came together.”
Asked what he was trying to do in the Russell incident, he said: “It was a misjudgement, clearly in the corner. But you don’t need to go into full detail of why, how and what. Everyone makes mistakes in life.”
If Verstappen receives one more point on his licence over the next two races in Canada this weekend and Austria at the end of the month, he will be banned for a grand prix.
After Austria, two points come off his licence, but that still leaves him on nine points – three away from a ban – until the Mexico City Grand Prix in October.
Russell said a ban for Verstappen would be deserved if it came to that.
“If he gets his 12 points, it wouldn’t be unjust, you know,” the Briton said. “So that’s literally why it’s there.”
Verstappen said it would not change his approach to racing.
“I cannot just back out of everything,” he said. “I’m just going to race like I always do. I trust myself. I don’t worry about it. I just come here to race, and I will always race hard.”
Russell said he thought the penalty Verstappen received in Spain was “fair”, but added: “If it took me out of the race, then it needs to be deemed differently.”
Russell said Verstappen’s rivals could benefit from his precarious position at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
“We have to be smart and use it to our advantage,” he said.
“I’m going to continue racing exactly the same because at the end of the day, that’s what I did last week and I benefited from it. And as we said, if you do keep driving like that, you’ll accumulate your points and you’ll get punished. Ultimately, he got punished for it.
“So, from my side, kind of long may it continue and for a neutral, it spices things up a little bit.”
Russell said he had met Verstappen by chance at Nice airport on Sunday on his way to watch the French Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannick Sinner.
“We bumped into each other at the airport a few days ago on Sunday morning when I was going to Roland Garros,” he said.
“To be honest, I totally forgot about Barcelona because he was there with his newborn. And we were at the security machine. So he just had a quick chat and then he was busy folding the pram down to put it through the machine.”
