After the Spanish Grand Prix, Jolyon Palmer believes that Max Verstappen has done one of the worst things that a driver could do. While analysing the Spanish Grand Prix on F1 TV, Palmer discussed one of the race's hottest topics: the collision between Verstappen and George Russell. He believes the Dutch driver was frustrated and therefore tried to make a point.
He said, "Now he's tickled the throttle, and he's now just diving in for what seems to me to be trying to prove a point on the racing guidelines here by being there on the apex, similar to what George had, which caused the collision in the first place and Max to go out wide."
"He's kind of initiating the contact to try and prove a point here. But it's not a very clever thing to do, barge your car into a rival to try and prove that point."
Palmer Shocked by Verstappen's Action
He then became highly critical of Verstappen. "Fundamentally, this looks like a driver that is just frustrated, it's the red mist, he's angry inside the cockpit, but you can never use your car as a weapon to hit other cars."
"This is not Mario Kart, it's not Wacky Races, and this is kind of the worst thing you can possibly do in a Formula 1 car. Purposefully crash into someone else, and that's what it looks like to me. And Max hasn't really denied it afterwards because it doesn't seem like there's a defence here."
Verstappen did receive a ten-second time penalty and now has 11 penalty points. If he is to earn another before the end of June, he will face a race ban.
"The bigger thing is, why did he cause it? Was it intentional? To me and to many people looking on, it looks like yes, in which case, 10-second penalty, I don't think it's enough. I think this could have been a very severe penalty for Verstappen, and it's going to be talked about a lot next time at the drivers' meeting in Canada."
This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut.