Max Verstappen and George Russell were involved in a bizarre altercation towards the end of the Spanish Grand Prix.

George Russell has aimed criticism at Max Verstappen following their bizarre clash in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Following a late safety car restart, Russell attempted to overtake Verstappen into the opening corner as they battled with Charles Leclerc for the final spot on the podium.

Verstappen took to the escape road following minor contact with Russell and stayed ahead of the Mercedes driver when he rejoined, before being instructed to hand the place back.

Verstappen fumed at the instruction but appeared to pull to the side as the pair approached Turn 4.

However, he then made contact with Russell and was slapped with a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

Russell had an air of pity when discussing Verstappen’s approach, suggesting he is setting a bad example for the next generation of drivers.

“It felt very deliberate, to be honest,” Russell told media including RacingNews365.

“It’s something that I’ve seen numerous times in sim racing, and iRacing – never have I seen it in an F1 race. That was something new.

“It’s a bit of a shame because Max is clearly one of the best drivers in the world – but manoeuvres like that are just totally unnecessary and sort of let him down.

“It’s a shame for all the young kids looking up, aspiring to be F1 drivers. 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.”

Verstappen’s penalty dropped him to 10th at the chequered flag, but the incident was heavily criticised by 2016 champion Nico Rosberg, who called for Verstappen to be disqualified from the classifications.

While Russell was not completely sure if the manoeuvre was deliberate, he stated the stewards should come down hard on the Dutchman if they deem it to be.

“Honestly, I need to look back on it,” Russell added.

“If it was truly deliberate, then absolutely [the penalty was too lenient] because you cannot deliberately crash into another driver.

“We’re putting our lives on the line. We’re fortunate the cars are as safe as they are these days, but we shouldn’t take it for granted.

“It’s down to the stewards to determine if it’s deliberate or not. If they do think it’s deliberate, then maybe they need to have a hard precedent.

“I’m not too bothered about it, because that’s his problem, that’s the stewards’ problem.”