Red Bull boss Christian Horner delivered a dismissive response to Nico Rosberg's criticism following the German's calls for Max Verstappen to be disqualified from the Spanish Grand Prix.
After initially refusing to speak to Sky Sports, telling them he had "nothing to say" when asked for an interview, Horner later hit back at the 2016 world champion's commentary.
"Nico is quite sensational in the way he commentates, so we will leave it there," Horner said, taking a sly dig at Rosberg's animated reaction to Verstappen's controversial conduct during the race.
Rosberg, who was filling in for Martin Brundle on Sky Sports F1 co-commentary duties, delivered scathing criticism of Verstappen's actions during the race.
Christian Horner and Nico Rosberg had different opinions on track action
Reuters
The 2016 world champion was appalled by what he witnessed, declaring: "He needs to get black flagged."
"He just crashed into Russell on purpose just to prove a point. That was horrible. That did not look good. That's bad, bad, bad. That is seriously bad," Rosberg said on air, calling for the most severe penalty available to race stewards for Verstappen's conduct
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Verstappen stole the show in controversial circumstances when he appeared to intentionally drive into the side of George Russell during the Spanish Grand Prix. The collision resulted in a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points for the Red Bull driver.
The incident dropped Verstappen down to P10 once his penalty was applied, marking another chapter in his ongoing rivalry with Russell.
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This isn't the first time Max Verstappen and George Russell have had contact on track
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This is not the first run-in between the pair, as they previously had a row in the pit lane and exchanged insults publicly after last year's Qatar Grand Prix, where Verstappen was also penalised by stewards over an incident with the Mercedes driver in qualifying.
Russell expressed serious safety concerns following the deliberate collision, describing Verstappen's actions as "totally unnecessary" and questioning the three-time world champion's judgement.
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"It doesn't really make sense to deliberately crash into somebody and risk damaging your own car, risk a penalty. You cannot deliberately crash into another driver. You know, we're putting our lives on the line," Russell said.
"We're fortunate the cars are as safe as they are these days.
George Russell was not happy with the move post-race
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But we shouldn't take it for granted. Max is such an amazing driver and so many people look up to him. It's a shame that something like that continues to occur."
The Spanish Grand Prix result, where McLaren claimed another one-two, has left Verstappen almost 50 points behind Drivers' Championship leader Oscar Piastri.
Russell has also closed the gap on the Dutchman, with the pair now separated by just 26 points.
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