Expert saw Verstappen's 'explosion of rage' disappear over corners in Spain

According to the Indian analyst, there did not understand why Red Bull asked to let Russell past to begin with. "And to me, I looked and I thought, he's been tagged. He doesn't need to give the place up. Why are they asking him to give the place up? It was confusing," he said on Sky Sports' F1 podcast.

On Monday, Verstappen shared a post on social media reacting to what happened. According to Chandhok, he was also surprised to see the Dutchman to do that. "And so then the red mist is down. And what he did was just wrong. And I'm glad, somewhat surprised, I have to say, to hear him come out and apologise, because we haven't had that before from Max. So the fact that he has, I think, is good."

"Because it's indefensible. What he did, slowing down, effectively giving George the message in the cockpit that I'm slowing down, you go past and then he accelerates. He actually gets slightly back on the throttle as well if you listen to the onboard, which is clearly unacceptable. He's come out, apologised, chapter over," he added.

After comparing the incident to the 2024 Mexican GP when Verstappen decided to dive down the inside of Lando Norris, according to Chandhok, through the team radios, he was not asked again to let Russell past in Turn 12. "He’s had this explosion of rage, calmed himself down in seven corners, and sort of settled."

The Sky Sports' lead commentator appreciated Verstappen's apology, and added: "That shows a mature Max Verstappen, and we want to see that. But we also want to see a mature Max Verstappen on the track, and not doing things like that. Because he is a better driver than this sort of things. And he keeps getting remembered for this sort of thing."

About the incident itself, he added that even if Verstappen did not steer towards Russell, it does not change much. "He almost allowed George to hit him by not turning his steering to the left. His steering angle is actually dead straight when they make contact. He is not making a deliberate move towards George, he is not getting out of the way of George. The end result is exactly the same."