"He didn't do it on purpose" - Max Verstappen on clash with George Russell

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said that George Russell didn't purposely clash with him during the 2023 Las Vegas GP.

The duo made contact with each other in the middle of the race after the three-time world champion pulled off an unlikely move that caught the Mercedes driver unaware. The damage to the Dutch driver's car left him with a broken end plate and loss of some downforce on his RB19.

Russell accepted that the clash was his mistake as he wasn't looking when Verstappen went side by side with him. In his post-race press conference, Max Verstappen said (via Sports Illustrated):

"That's always a tricky one. I mean, he didn't do that on purpose. I think he just didn't expect me to pass him into that corner. Because that's how it felt like, I put it on the inside and he just turned in like there was no one there, right? So I guess he just didn't see me."

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George Russell gives his take on the clash with Max Verstappen

The Mercedes driver said that he was a bit surprised that Max Verstappen went for a move at an unlikely spot as he would have passed him on the Las Vegas Strip right back when he pulled off the overtake.

Reflecting on the clash, George Russell said via F1.com:

“Really disappointed to be honest. Feels like the story of my season. On course for an easy P3 to be honest. The incident with Max was totally my fault. I didn’t see him at all going through Turn 11, the left, you sort of have a bit of a blind spot and it’s not really an overtaking opportunity. So, I’ve got to be honest I wasn’t even looking in the mirrors."

“And even if he made the overtake, I would have just passed him straight back, so I was a bit surprised that the overtake was attempted there. But as I said totally my fault and totally changed the race."

It was quite surprising to see that Russell accepted the mistake as there have been some clashes between him and Max Verstappen previously where they both refused to take responsibility.

It would have been fascinating to see where the British driver would have finished had he not gotten a 5-second penalty and got caught out by the safety car right after the collision with the Red Bull driver.