On a day the four-time world champion claimed it would be a good time to shine, instead he left the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with his image further tarnished. In a few mad moments we witnessed return of the wild, spoiled kid we thought he'd left behind.
Under the Safety Car, aware that his softs wouldn't go the distance, Red Bull pitted the Dutchman even though the only tyres it had available were the hards, the very compound that drivers struggled with on Friday and were desperate to avoid.
As the Safety Car period came to an end, Verstappen was clearly struggling and as race leader Oscar Piastri let rip the Dutchman almost lost his car coming out of the final corner.
Easy prey on the main straight to Charles Leclerc, the pair clashed - the stewards subsequently admitting that this could have been a major incident - and as he headed into Turn 1 Verstappen found himself under attack from Russell also.
Though he held off the Mercedes, running wide and using the escape road in the process, he was subsequently ordered by his team to hand the position back to the Briton, incorrectly believing Verstappen has gained an advantage by leaving the track.
Verstappen subsequently slowed to allow Russell though, but at the last moment drove into the passing Mercedes.
While the stewards subsequently decided the Dutchman had not gained an advantage in leaving the track and therefore was under no need to hand the position back, he was given a 10s penalty and 3 penalty points for driving into Russell.
"I was as surprised as you guys were," said the Briton at race end. "I've seen those sort of manoeuvres before on simulator games and go-karting but never in F1.
"Ultimately we came home in P4 and he came home in P10," he added. "I don't really know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment, so it felt surprising.
Asked if Verstappen should have been disqualified, Russell, a GPDA director, replied: "It's not my place to say. Right now, I'm not going to give it any thought because we have our own problems to deal with. We are trying to make our car go faster.
"The Safety Car at the end shuffled things up," he continued. "It's down to the stewards to decide if it was deliberate or not.
"Max is such an amazing driver and so many people look up to him," he added. "It's just a shame something like that continues to occur. It seems totally unnecessary and never seems to benefit himself.
"I'm too close to give my opinion on behalf of the drivers," he admitted. "It's like in Austin last year, some of the best moves ever then you go to Mexico and he lets himself down a bit. You go to Imola with one of the best moves of all-time, then this happens.
"It cost him and his team a lot of points," said the Briton. "Charles and I actually dropped off like a stone on those last two laps. He probably could have come back to fight for the podium, so I won't lose any sleep over it. We have our own problems and that's making our car go faster."
Toto Wolff, who has never got over the controversy of Abu Dhabi 2021, a year in which there were numerous incidents involving Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, was equally baffled.
"I heard that Max had the call to let him pass. I didn't know," said the Austrian. "We were under the impression in the race that he had a problem with the car and that's why he was so slow getting out of Turn 4.
"I mean, if it was road rage, which I can't imagine because it was too obvious, then it's not good. But the thing is, I don't know what he aimed for. Did he want to let George pass and immediately repass, put George the car ahead, and then, like the old DRS games, letting him pass the right way?
"For me, it's just incomprehensible," he admitted. "But, again, I don't know exactly what the motivations were and I don't want to jump on it and say this was road rage, etc. Let's see what his arguments are. But it wasn't nice.
"There's a pattern that I've read..." he continued. ""The great ones, whether it's in motor racing or in other sports, you need to have the world against you and then perform at the highest possible level. That's why sometimes these greats don't recognise that the world is not against you. It's just you who have made a mistake or you've screwed up, etc.
"We haven't seen any of these moments with Max for many years now. Obviously, I know 2021, that happened. I don't know where it comes from."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Barcelona here.
sign in