The closing stages of an otherwise fairly routine Spanish GP were enlivened by a safety car triggered by a PU failure for Kimi Antonelli – and out of nowhere we suddenly had a Grade A controversy, with Max Verstappen right at the heart of it.

The Dutchman had been doing a great job in taking the fight to the McLarens, and the safety car could have been a perfect opportunity for him to get stuck into them over the last few laps. In fact it had the opposite effect.

Almost the entire field pitted for tyres, but the problem for Verstappen was that having already stopped three times the only real option he had was to take new hards, while everyone else went to softs. The team decided that was a better bet than keeping out on softs that had done eight laps before the safety car.

Verstappen questioned the call, and his fears were realised when at the restart he almost lost it on coming onto the straight.

He had a touch with Charles Leclerc as the Ferrari man came past, and then had to brave it out with George Russell into Turn 1, going off track in the process.

He managed to stay ahead in the latter case, but his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase urged him to give the place back. Having argued the then appeared to let Russell by only to drive into the side of the Mercedes.

It looked like a red mist moment of the kind that Michael Schumacher used to have from time to time, and while Verstappen may be a hard racer, he’s rarely indulged in anything quite as blatant or clumsy.

“I don’t really know, to be honest, probably as surprising for you guys as it was for me,” said Russell. “I don’t know what he was thinking, but in the end, I finished fourth, he finished 10th. So bit of an unnecessary manoeuvre…”

Elaborating on what transpired he added: “It felt very deliberate, to be honest. It’s something that I’ve seen numerous times in sim racing and on iRacing. Never have I seen it in an F1 race. So that was something new.

“It’s a bit of a shame, because Max is clearly one of the best drivers in the world, but manoeuvres like that are just totally unnecessary, and sort of lets him down. And it’s a shame for all the sort of young kids looking up, aspiring to be F1 drivers. So, as I said, I don’t know what he was thinking.

“In the end, I’m not going to lose sleep over it, because I ultimately benefited from those antics.”

The stewards took a dim view, and as the race ran to his conclusion he was given a 10-second penalty that demoted him from fifth on the road at the flag to 10^th.

When Verstappen met the media he was in and upbeat and bullish mood, not willing to admit any fault or go into any detail about what transpired with Russell.

“Yeah, with the hard tyres, just didn’t have any grip,” he said when I asked about that safety car call. “We didn’t have any good soft tyres left, because we did that three-stop. So yeah, that’s basically unlucky.

“I think up until then, it was looking quite good for us. We didn’t have, of course, the pace of the McLarens, but with that three-stop, it still looked quite racy out there, putting them at least a little bit under pressure in a way that they had to push, and but, yeah, unfortunately, that safety car just came at the at the wrong time. But that’s also part of racing.

“And then with the hard tyre, I had a big moment out of the last corner, because I couldn’t keep up with these soft tyres around me. Then on the straight I got driven into already, and then into Turn 1 as well.

“Then they told me to give the position back. But honestly, I think the biggest issue that we have is just that the racing standards, what is allowed, what isn’t, is not very natural.

“And that is quite frustrating. And of course, sometimes it works for you, sometimes it works against you. And today that worked against me.”

Expanding on the tyre call he said: “At that point, I was not sure what soft eye we had left. I knew that it was not going to be like a one lap old tyre, but, yeah, unfortunately, the hard tyre just was really poor.

“I thought it maybe could have been a bit better, but it wasn’t. And especially with six laps left, everyone can go flat out on a soft, and then you’re just grip limited compared to everyone else on the soft.”

What he didn’t want to do was say very much about the Russell clash, or respond to the Mercedes driver’s critical take on his behaviour.

Fending off the questions he said: “Honestly, it’s better to just focus on the race, which I think was quite okay, up until the safety car.”

He did eventually concede that “I think it was a misjudgement,” while asked if he had any regrets he added: “I think in life, you shouldn’t regret too many things. You only live once.”

These two have history of course, which peaked with a war of words at the end of last season. Will Ma have a word with Russell?

“No, not necessarily. I have nothing to say…”

The Russell incident came in tandem with the clash with Leclerc, which could have been a lot worse – and which the stewards let go, with neither driver predominantly to blame.

“Honestly, I don’t know what happened there,” said Verstappen. “It was really odd, because basically, the move was almost done, and suddenly he moved left, which could have been a big one, but it was just really weird. I don’t know what happened.

“I thought I was going to have a puncture, because with the floor, you can cut the tyre.”

It was clearly a frustrating afternoon for Verstappen, who was unhappy on the radio during the race, even describing the tricky RB21 – which he has flattered all season – as “broken.” Losing a podium shot to the safety car and the ensuing tyre choice, and finding himself unable to defend, clearly nudged him over the edge.

Ultimately he only harmed himself in the Russell incident, and in tumbling from fifth to 10^th thanks to the penalty, he lost nine points.

They may not mean much in the grand scheme things if the two McLaren drivers continue to pull away in the championship. However they could prove expensive if Red Bull’s overall form improves, and he can keep the fight alive.