Max Verstappen shares immediate fear from 'pretty scary' Charles Leclerc collision

Max Verstappen felt the contact he had with Charles Leclerc during the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix would leave him with a puncture.

Reflecting on the "really odd" and "really weird" incident, the Dutchman highlighted how the collision could have been a "big one" after the Ferrari touched his Red Bull whilst charging past at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

At the safety car restart, which came on lap 61 of the 66 lap race, the four-time F1 drivers' champion, on hard tyres compared to the medium and soft compounds every other driver was on, suffered a considerable snap of oversteer coming out the final corner, causing him to lose traction.

It subsequently opened the door for Leclerc, on the yellow-walled Pirellis, to overtake, which is when contact was initiated.

That came moments before George Russell pushed Verstappen wide at Turn 1, which precipitated the events that earned the Red Bull driver a 10-second time penalty and dropped him from fifth to P10 at the chequered flag.

In the wake of the two incidents, Verstappen jumped on team radio to complain about his rivals, having fallen from a podium position.

"Oh my! Mate, he just rammed into me!," he exclaimed before clarifying: "Charles just rammed into me on the straight."

It saw the two drivers' hauled before the FIA stewards, but it was determined neither was "wholly or predominantly to blame" and, therefore, neither was punished - unlike with the later clash with Russell.

In the aftermath of the ill-tempered and dramatic end to the race, Verstappen was asked if he would speak to Leclerc about the initial moment of contention.

"Honestly, I don't know what happened there," the 65-time grand prix winner told media including RacingNews365.

"It was really odd, because he was already... basically the move was almost done, and suddenly he moved left, which could have been a big one, but it was just really weird. I don't know what happened."

When it was put to the 27-year-old that it looked "pretty scary", he agreed.

"Yep, yeah, it was," he responded. "I thought I was gonna have a puncture, you know, because with the floor, you can cut the tyre. But, I don't know."