Max Verstappen was defensive when asked if his contact with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix was intentional, also claiming he does not have a chance of retaining his world title.

Verstappen crossed the line in fifth but dropped to 10th as a consequence of a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Russell.

He had adopted a three-stop strategy in an attempt to keep the pressure on the McLarens, as Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris in a one-two.

But his outing did not go to plan as he was forced onto hard tyres for the final sprint, with no softer compound available.

With a safety car also coming into play, Verstappen almost lost his car due to a wobble on the fast final corner following the restart, while he also made contact with Charles Leclerc.

Russell then appeared to nudge the Red Bull driver off the track, and though Verstappen brilliantly recovered to stay fourth, he was advised to let the Mercedes pass as he continued to struggle on his tyres.

Verstappen looked to have slowed down to let Russell in, only to steer into the Brit, earning him the penalty.

When asked if the contact was intentional, Verstappen told Sky Sports: "Does it matter?"

Then, when pushed again for an answer, he added: "Yeah, okay. That's great. I prefer to speak about the race rather than one single moment."

A dramatic finish to the #SpanishGP  Max finishes P5, but is demoted to P10 after a post-race 10-second time penalty for causing a collision 

From a pit-lane start, Yuki recovers to P13.

Result PIA, NOR, LEC, RUS, HUL, HAM, HAD, GAS, ALO, Max P10. Yuki P13. pic.twitter.com/wvewCqk0PX

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 1, 2025

Following the race, the Dutchman was also given three additional penalty points on his superlicence, meaning he now has 11 overall.

He is just one penalty point away from a race ban, according to Formula One rules, which state 12 in a 12-month period will result in a single-race suspension.

Two of those points expire on June 30, meaning Verstappen must avoid penalties over the next two races in Canada and Austria in order to ease the pressure for the rest of the season.

Verstappen is now 49 points behind drivers' championship leader Piastri, who has five victories under his belt this year.

And the 27-year-old admits his hopes of winning a fifth consecutive world title look to already be over.

Asked if the 10th-place finish damaged his championship chances, he said: "If there are any. I think we are way too slow to fight for the title. That was clear again.

"We tried to do a three-stop and that was quite good, but we also needed it because we had quite a bit of degradation on the tyres.

"Unfortunately, the safety car came out at the end, and we ran out of tyres to use, and the hard tyre was not the right tyre.

"When you only have six laps to go, everyone can go flat out, and you are severely grip-limited on the hard."