Helmut Marko refuses to address Max Verstappen-Charles Leclerc collision

Red Bull motorsport advisor refused to address Max Verstappen's Spanish Grand Prix incident with Charles Leclerc, but put the Dutchman's clash with George Russell down to "frustration". 

Verstappen had been looking set for a podium until a late safety car, which saw the majority of the field pit for almost brand-new soft tyres. The 27-year-old also pitted, but to his shock received new hards. 

It worked against Red Bull dramatically, as Verstappen could not generate heat into the tyres. A huge slide allowed Leclerc to pull alongside down the start/finish straight on the safety car restart, before contact was made. 

The stewards after the race decided to take no further action; however, Marko refused to "go into details" on the incident with the Ferrari driver.

"We realised we had to take a risk to have any chance at all," Marko told Sky DE. "And that was the three-stop. Unfortunately, the safety car got in the way at the end. 

"We only had the hard tyre left and that was definitely the wrong tyre. That tyre was especially bad during warm-up.

"And we saw Max's evasive manoeuvre [after the restart]. But that's how it goes: if you take a risk, it can also go the other way. 

"Max obviously saw that he had no grip because of the bad tyre and he almost lost control. And then there was the situation with Leclerc. I don't want to go into details about this either."

Verstappen 'frustration'

Verstappen was furious to receive the hard tyres with it having also opened the door to Russell, where contact was made at the first corner after the safety car restart on lap 61.

The four-time world champion skipped the second corner and rejoined ahead of Russell, leading to Red Bull instructing Verstappen to hand the spot back.

Three laps later and Verstappen drove into the side of Russell, resulting in a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points, which Marko puts down to frustration.

"I would say he was driving in front for a long time and then because of this tyre choice....," added a frustrated Marko. 

"But as I said, we had nothing else and didn't know that this tyre would be so bad in the warm-up phase. There was a certain frustration and that expressed itself in the driving style."