Christian Horner slates Nico Rosberg over stunning Max Verstappen claim

Christian Horner has labelled Nico Rosberg as "sensationalist" following the German's claim that Max Verstappen should have been disqualified from the Spanish Grand Prix. 

Rosberg stated that the Dutchman should have been black-flagged following his deliberate ramming of George Russell on Lap 64 at Turn 5 after an earlier Turn 1 incident where Verstappen felt he had been forced off the track. 

Protesting against race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase's instruction to let Russell through to potentially avoid a penalty for cutting the track and gaining an advantage, Verstappen initially appeared to do so.

However, he then accelerated and rammed Russell, for which he received a 10-second time penalty from the stewards, and then picked up three penalty points. 

The points move Verstappen to just one away from an automatic one-race ban as he is now on 11, with 12 the trigger.

Points do not start to come off Verstappen's licence until June 30, meaning he must navigate the Canadian and Austrian Grands Prix without incident.

Debriefing with media, Horner was questioned about Rosberg's claim of an immediate DSQ for the world champion, and gave it short shrift.

"Nico is quite sensationalist in the way that he commentates," Horner replied when asked by RacingNews365 for his response to the German. 

"So I'll leave it at that."

When further pushed by RacingNews365 on the threat of a looming ban for Verstappen, Horner indicated management of the situation was key. 

"You know, you can never guarantee anything," he said.

"I mean, he's just got to keep his nose clean in the next couple of races, and then the first points come off at the end of June."

The Red Bull boss was also asked if he felt "the red mist" had descended on Verstappen, a charge Horner did not fully deny.

"It was clear that you could hear he was frustrated, and he didn't agree with both Charles or George," he added.