Max Verstappen Ripped by George Russell for 'Deliberate' Crash, Could Face F1 Race Ban

Max Verstappen is on the verge of facing an F1 race ban following his crash with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.

Per ESPN's Laurence Edmondson, Verstappen is just a point away from a race ban after stewards at the Spanish Grand Prix deemed him responsible for a crash between him and Russell.

Russell felt that Verstappen intentionally caused the collision.

"It felt very deliberate, to be honest," Russell said after the race, per ESPN's Nate Saunders. "It's something that I've seen numerous times in sim racing and on iRacing. Never have I seen it in a Formula 1 race. So that was something new.

"It's a bit of a shame because Max is clearly one of the best drivers in the world. But maneuvers like that are just totally unnecessary and sort of lets him down. It's a shame for all the young kids looking up, aspiring to be Formula 1 drivers. So, as I said, I don't know what he was thinking. In the end, I'm not going to lose sleep over it because I ultimately benefited from those antics."

The collision led to Verstappen receiving a 10-second penalty as well as three additional penalty points on his super license. He finished Sunday's race in 10th place.

If a driver receives 12 penalty points in the span of a year, they must serve a one-race suspension. Verstappen is now at 11 penalty points with Sunday's penalty, but two of those points will expire in late June, giving him a bit more breathing room to avoid a ban. Still, he will race twice before those points expire, so he'll have to be extremely cautious moving forward.

Verstappen, a four-time world champion, sits in third place in the F1 driver standings with 137 points. He's behind Oscar Piastri, who has 186 points, and Lando Norris, who has 176 points.