Verstappen-Russell antics behind Safety Car spark controversy and 'childish' claim

After Lando Norris crashed out on Lap 67, the Safety Car was called out on track. On the straight ahead of the final chicane, the Mercedes driver did brake, so Verstappen would 'overtake' him.

After the Austrian's protest, the Briton could keep his victory. GPblog could also share Max Verstappen was at peace with finishing second, and if it was up to him, there would have been no protest at all.

The former driver was not happy with how the drivers reacted to the situation, he explained on the Pit-the-Talk podcast. "Straight away on the radio, like football players asking for a yellow card. But that is how the sport unfortunately is now. Childish."

He continued: "Because the FIA is listening to all the radios. Before they hand out penalties, they want to make sure they have all the data collected. So it's childish. I don't like this part of the sport. Max knows how to play this game. George knows definitely how to play this game. I mean, it doesn't make him French, especially not in the Netherlands."

The former Red Bull Racing driver also sees the battle is 'real' among the two competitors. "You have guys that you don't get on with. You don't need to get on with everybody. You have your own life. You go to the track, they do your racing, and they share a jet sometimes, but he won't share a jet with George."

"They had some incidents in Baku and they had some incidents in the past. And I think yesterday was another one of those. But the respect is also there because at the end of the day, the guy is fast, he won the race," he concluded.

Currently, the two drivers are in third and fourth in the standings, with the Dutchman being ahead. Only 19 points separate them, while Verstappen is 44 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.