BARCELONA, Spain — In a year in which McLaren has emerged as Formula One’s dominant team with a brilliant car and two outstanding drivers, Max Verstappen’s efforts to stay in the hunt for the World Championship must be applauded.

Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen has admitted his incident with George Russell in Spain "was not right" but stopped short of directly offering an apology.

Max Verstappen’s move on George Russell afforded stewards an opportunity to send a very loud message through the motorsport ranks as far as what is acceptable on track. Instead, they squandered the opportunity with a light punishment that does little to condemn or defer behaviour that has no place on a race track.