Russell: I don't know what was going through Verstappen's mind

Verstappen was instructed by his team to let Russell through for fear of a penalty for going off track and gaining an advantage, as both drivers were fighting for the same piece of tarmac into Turn 1 after the Safety Car restart and just after Verstappen was passed by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

The reigning Formula 1 champion was not happy with the instruction, insisting Russell pushed him off, and just when everyone thought he was letting the Briton through, he went on and rammed him, for which he was given a ten-second penalty that dropped him down to tenth.

Russell was naturally asked about the incident after the race. He said: "I was as surprised as you guys were. I've seen those sort of maneuvers before on simulator games and go-karting but never in F1.

"Ultimately we came home in P4 and he came home in P10. I don't really know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment, so it felt surprising," he added.

But when asked whether Verstappen should've been disqualified, Russell responded: "It's not my place to say. Right now, I'm not going to give it any thought because we have our own problems to deal with.

"We are trying to make our car go faster. The Safety Car at the end shuffled things up. It's down to the stewards to decide if it was deliberate or not.

"Max is such an amazing driver and so many people look up to him. It's just a shame something like that continues to occur. It seems totally unnecessary and never seems to benefit himself.

"I'm too close to give my opinion on behalf of the drivers," the Mercedes driver went on. "It's like in Austin last year, some of the best moves ever then you go to Mexico and he lets himself down a bit.

"You go to Imola with one of the best moves of all-time, then this happens. It cost him and his team a lot of points. Charles and I actually dropped off like a stone on those last two laps.

"He probably could have come back to fight for the podium, so I won't lose any sleep [over it]. We have our own problems and that's making our car go faster," Russell concluded.

(Quotes from Sky Sports F1)