Ex-Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle admitted that he would’ve told reigning World Champion Max Verstappen to “fly away” had it been him involved in the opening lap collision at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which resulted in the Red Bull driver seeing red.
Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell collided on the opening lap of the first sprint race of the season at the Baku City Circuit, after the Briton locked-up and under-steered into the side of the Dutchman.
The impact saw Verstappen sustain significant damage, much to his anger.
Whilst he still beat Russell, the two-time World Champion waited for Russell in parc ferme after the sprint, where he called the Briton a “di**head” on live TV.
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Russell did fight back ahead of last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, where he labelled Verstappen as “poor” for having “spat his dummy out”.
“He’s had his fair share of giving moves like that and being tough and hard at racing and it’s a little bit poor to see how he sort of spat his dummy out when it was the first time he probably got something back in the same regard,” Russell said, as reported by PlanetF1.com.
The duo actually raced against each other briefly on Sunday at the Miami International Autodrome; however, it was a simple overtake by Verstappen.
Brundle was seemingly on Russell’s side when it came to the incident in Baku, with the driver turned pundit having noted that Verstappen is a prime example of a driver who is known to “fight really hard” on the opening lap of the race.
“It’s first lap stuff on a very tight track,” Brundle said on Sky Sports F1 ahead of FP1 in Miami.
“I think George should have told him to fly away, to be honest.
“Because I think we’ve seen Max fight really hard like that, Max was on the outside and as a Verstappen fan I was a little bit disappointed how he handled that really, to be frank.
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“And then, [as] part of that, he suggested that George was in a slower car so what’s the point in trying to overtake him in any event?
“You can’t go racing like that. You might as well stay home.
“That’s not how Max goes racing and we love him for it.”