Furious Verstappen calls Russell a ‘****head’ after contact

Russell and Verstappen came to blows at Turn 2 on the opening lap of Saturday’s first sprint race of the season in Baku as the Mercedes driver got past into third place. 

Verstappen was not impressed by Russell’s actions and pleaded with his Red Bull team to report the Briton to race control. 

The two-time world champion later breezed past Russell to reclaim third place but finished the race with floor damage and a large hole in the sidepod of his RB19. 

Verstappen approached Russell directly after the race in parc ferme to make his feelings on the matter clear. 

“I had no grip”, said Russell, who apologised to Verstappen.

Verstappen responded: “Mate, we all have no grip. We all need to leave a little space.

“But expect it next time the same, you know. Dickhead.” 

Speaking in the post-race interviews, Verstappen added: "It's not clarified.

“I just don’t understand why you need to take so much risk in lap one, understeer into my sidepod, create a hole. We all have cold tyres, it’s easy to lock up. 

"His beautiful way of explaining ‘ah mate, you know locked up, ah look at the onboard’. It doesn’t make sense. 

"There’s a hole in the sidepod, it doesn’t look that great, it is what it is now and we’ll focus on tomorrow. "