George Russell has responded sharply to Max Verstappen’s defiant comments ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, after the Red Bull star dismissed the possibility of an F1 race ban as “not the end of the world.”

Verstappen currently sits on 11 penalty points—just one away from an automatic one-race suspension—following a controversial incident at the Spanish Grand Prix where he appeared to deliberately swerve into Russell during a late-race battle. The FIA handed Verstappen a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points, pushing him dangerously close to the limit.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Verstappen appeared unfazed by the situation:

“It’s there right, there’s nothing you can do about it. We just focus ahead and try to do the best we can every single time. It’s not changing my approach.”

When asked directly if missing a race would be a heavy blow to his championship hopes, Verstappen responded casually:

“If you look at it in general, missing a race is not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world.”

This relaxed attitude, however, did not sit well with George Russell, who was the other party involved in the clash at Turn 5 in Barcelona. In a media session in Montreal, Russell acknowledged Verstappen’s apology but didn’t mince words regarding potential consequences:

“His actions cost him, and they benefited me. So, I should be almost thanking him. But it’s good to see that he took accountability, which I was a bit surprised by.”

Still, Russell remained clear that a race ban would be justified:

“I think he was trying to run me off the road, but I don’t think he was trying to intentionally crash into me. I think he just misjudged it. If he gets his 12 points, it wouldn’t be unjust, you know. So that’s literally why it’s there.”

Verstappen, speaking again in a separate press briefing, doubled down on his racing style despite the looming threat:

“I cannot just back out of everything — I’m just going to race like I always do. I trust myself. Is it fair that I’m on 11 points? I don’t know. But at the same time, life is not fair, you know. I just come here to race and I will always race hard.”

As the Canadian Grand Prix looms, Verstappen must now survive two full weekends—Montreal and Austria—without any further penalty points. If he slips again, he risks becoming only the second driver in F1 history to serve a ban due to exceeding the penalty point limit. All eyes will be on the Red Bull garage this Sunday.