Baku Sprint Race – Lap 1 Verstappen vs Russell

Replay of the battle on lap 1 between Max Verstappen and George Russell in Baku, Azerbaijan.

F1 2023.

[alanbuckley]

He had the inside line. Why is everyone sulking. I'm a max fan but he would of done exactly the same

[nielsdorhout]

Russell had the inside line, but he did not keep it clean by understeering into Max. The next corner they were side by side when it was even narrower and he made the corner easily. So George was at fault.

[FortunaMEJG]

Personally I think that it was some hard racing and that neither driver should be penalized here. However, since Russell made contact with Verstappen in turn 2, resulting in Max getting a poor exit – you could argue that George should’ve given the position to Max, as Max would have been ahead going into T3 (if the contact never had happened).
The entertainment continues tomorrow! 💪🏻😎👍🏻

[sajeedhazra]

Regulations have changed since 2021. Max didn’t get penalties for his moves in 2021 because they were legal. Now the regs have changed but I don’t think Max was annoyed at Russell for the move. It’s that he squeezed Max into the wall for 3 back to back corners and two of them there contact either between them or with the wall. Russell didn’t even seem to think he was wrong. In the last 18 months Russell has clashed with so much other drivers so im not surprised she clashed with Max.

[isuckatthisgame]

Clumsy lap 1 racing on a narrow part of the circuit.

[FKR]

Just racing. Verstappen has the line, Russell has the track position. Neither wants to yield. Nobody at fault, just sort it out amongst themselves.

[BazzoMusic]

When you dont give even on the 3rd consecutive lost corner, way to go max

[TheDevilsAccountant]

Max crying as usual when hes out raced and Redbull being obnoxious asf when he eventually get the place back.
Still has the fastest even with a big hole in the side of it.
Cant stand him or his team.

[constipatedparker]

What colorful word did Max say to George after the race?

[IntrinsicPalomides]

Poor max crying about a bit of contact, of course when he was using his car as a bowling ball and ramming people off intentionally it was just "hard racing" and "nothing wrong with it"

[JBils]

Max decided to run the outside line… in a situation where ‘no-one had any grip’ what did he expect…? Entitled whining frankly… he could have drifted past Russell given his speed advantage once DRS was switched on… 🤷‍♂️

[beatles]

Did max started 3rd or he just had a really bad start???

[gameboyterrorysta]

I don't have issues with Russel attempting a move. I have an issue with him failing and crashing into Verstappen twice while attempting these overtakes.
And you have to consider how often he drove into other drivers during last 2 years with Imola crash with Bottas being just an icing on the cake.

[grahamtait]

Max can't complain..he just doesn't like it when someone stands up to him. Russell isn't taking any nonsense from Hamilton and he won't care less about Max. Wait until George has a decent car!

[waltersheens]

Russel lost grip and couldn't keep his line, this happens in racing and if Russel admits/apologises like one would to a colleague it's not a big deal. But Russell tries to make Max look like the bad guy like some others tried before. They can't beat Max as a racer/driver and then try other tactics. He is a dighat but he's at the right team.

[shortround]

Max (Alonso Bozo) - Screaming you gotta leave me space
Russell - Im coming through, thats karma bitch...
LOL

[stanley]

Russell was a bit aggressive at the start. Verstappen should go outside Parc Ferme and settle the issue with Russell

[sheldensummers]

How dare someone have abit of contact with Max's car 😭 oh the fake tan orange tears 😭😭😭😭 i smell streaky bacon

[gabbeboiii]

behaving like a child like he always does. brake checks people but complains about a 1st lap incident smh...

[Micael]

Hard racing for sure. One could argue that it was unnecessary from Russell to fight that hard on lap 1, but of course he’s allowed to battle. At the same time though: the contact in turn 2 is the reason why Max wasn’t ahead going into turn 3. The most fair decision would have been to have Russell give Max the position. That’s my opinion.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s race for sure!