The crash with George Russell in Barcelona made headlines, but according to Günther Steiner, it was precisely this moment that was decisive for Max Verstappen’s development.
The controversial incident between Max Verstappen and George Russell at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix could, in retrospect, prove to be an important turning point in the four-time world champion’s career. At least that’s what Günther Steiner, former Haas team boss, believes.
He believes that the situation made Verstappen an even better driver in the long run: “That moment made it clear to him that he can’t do things like that anymore because he loses too many points,” he said on The Red Flags podcast.
When the race restarted, there was initially contact when Russell collided with Verstappen. The Red Bull driver had to swerve into the run-off area, but returned to the track ahead of the Mercedes driver.
The collision with Russell and its consequences
To avoid a possible penalty, Red Bull subsequently asked Verstappen to give the position back. However, the Dutchman did not agree.
What followed caused a great deal of discussion: while it looked as if Verstappen was going to let Russell pass, he steered into his Mercedes before finally letting him through. Race control penalized the maneuver with a ten-second penalty, causing Verstappen to drop from fifth to tenth place.
Steiner clearly sees the incident as part of a learning process: “Obviously, you learn by making mistakes. Learning means making mistakes, and I think it made him better because he never did anything stupid again after that. I think he learned from it, and that helped him for the future.”
Steiner: “What if” questions are pointless
Although the incident hurt Verstappen at the time, Steiner sees it as a necessary investment: “Of course, it cost him something back then, but that cost was an investment, because if he had continued like that… I think he understood that and reacted to it because he now realizes: After what I did, I shouldn’t have done that.“
Steiner also considers the frequently asked question about missed points to be of little use: ”Of course, you can always say, ‘Oh, if that hadn’t happened…’ And maybe it annoyed him, but no matter what he or we say about the lost points, it doesn’t change his points at the end of the season.”
“If it hadn’t happened, would something else have happened? We’ll never know, because you can’t reproduce an event that has already happened.”
However, the 60-year-old is certain that Verstappen has drawn the right conclusions for the future from the situation at the Spanish Grand Prix: “For me, he realized that he shouldn’t have done that. He learned not to do it again, and he hasn’t done it since. So I think he’s matured.”
The former team boss’s conclusion is clear and is likely to cause unease among his rivals: “He’s now an even better Max Verstappen than he was this year in Barcelona. It’s scary when you think about it. And maybe, if he can control his temper, he’ll become even more unstoppable and even more composed. A more composed Max Verstappen is terrifying.”