Jacques Villeneuve makes George Russell 'deserved penalty' claim over controversial Max Verstappen clash

Jacques Villeneuve believes George Russell should have actually been penalised before his controversial clash with Max Verstappen in Spain. 

After the late safety car restart, Russell barged Verstappen wide at Turn 1, with Red Bull informing the Dutchman that it thought he had better let Russell through to avoid a penalty. 

But in doing so, Verstappen appeared to ram into Russell at Turn 5, for which he earned a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points, taking him to 11 for the 12-month period and one point away from a race ban. 

Russell did not receive any sanction for the Turn 1 incident, but 1997 world champion Villeneuve believes this was a mistake from the stewards.

"It was not intentional; it happened in the heat of the moment," Villeneuve told BetVictorCasino. 

"He immediately wanted to regain the position, but completely messed it up, and people immediately shouted that he did it on purpose and that he wanted to crash Russell out.

"The crazy thing is: Russell deserved a penalty. He hit Max on the rear wheel entering Turn 1. 

"According to the rules, that leads to forcing a collision and pushing another driver off the track. So why didn't he get a penalty for that? 

"If there are rules, they should always apply to everyone. Russell deserved a penalty."

"Verstappen lost a lot of points because of that penalty; he only got 10th. 

"He knows he doesn't have the best car, then to still get results, he has to drive at the limit, or even over it, and at some point that leads to mistakes or misjudgments, and that makes his fight for the world title a lot harder."