\n<\/p>\n
Asked what he thought Verstappen was trying to achieve in the manoeuvre at Barcelona’s Turn Five, Russell said: “I think he was trying to run me off the road, but I don’t think he was trying to intentionally crash into me. I think he just misjudged it.”<\/p>\n
If Verstappen receives one more point on his licence over the next two races in Canada this weekend and Austria at the end of the month, he will be banned for a grand prix.<\/p>\n
After Austria, two points come off his licence, but that still leaves him on nine points – three away from a ban – until the Mexico City Grand Prix in October.<\/p>\n
Russell said a ban for Verstappen would be deserved if it came to that.<\/p>\n
“If he gets his 12 points, it wouldn’t be unjust, you know,” the Briton said. “So that’s literally why it’s there.”<\/p>\n
He said he thought the penalty Verstappen received in Spain was “fair”, but added: “If it took me out of the race, then it needs to be deemed differently.”<\/p>\n
Russell said Verstappen’s rivals could benefit from his precarious position at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
“We have to be smart and use it to our advantage,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I’m going to continue racing exactly the same because at the end of the day, that’s what I did last week and I benefited from it. And as we said, if you do keep driving like that, you’ll accumulate your points and you’ll get punished. Ultimately, he got punished for it.<\/p>\n
“So, from my side, kind of long may it continue and for a neutral, it spices things up a little bit.”<\/p>\n
Russell said he had met Verstappen by chance at Nice airport on Sunday on his way to watch the French Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannick Sinner.<\/a><\/p>\n “We bumped into each other at the airport a few days ago on Sunday morning when I was going to Roland Garros,” he said.<\/p>\n “To be honest, I totally forgot about Barcelona because he was there with his newborn. And we were at the security machine. So he just had a quick chat and then he was busy folding the pram down to put it through the machine.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n