Max Verstappen clashes with Sky Sports reporter over George Russell following dig from F1 rival

Max Verstappen was involved in a tense exchange with a Sky Sports reporter over George Russell ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

After a short break on the back of the Spanish Grand Prix, Formula 1 will return this weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada.

Last time out in Barcelona, the headlines were dominated by Russell and Verstappen after the pair's coming-together in the closing stages.

The incident started after Verstappen was asked to give his place back to Russell following a dramatic safety car restart.

However, it was later revealed that the Dutchman did not need to let Russell through, meaning the whole situation could have been prevented.

As a result of the collision, Verstappen was slapped with a 10-second penalty and three points on his superlicense.

This means that heading into the Canadian Grand Prix, the reigning world champion is one penalty point away from an automatic race ban.

On Thursday, during the drivers' press conference, Verstappen clashed with Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz after being asked about the incident with Russell.

In his question, Kravitz mentioned Red Bull's Senior Race Strategy Engineer, Stephen Knowles, saying he 'assumed' he informed Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, to give his place back to Russell, which kick-started the whole situation.

In response, Verstappen said: "I think it's not really nice to try and single out a person, to be honest, because that's never the case.

"I think we just look at it as a team, what we always can do better, and that's also how we look at it in Barcelona. But it's not fair to now single out one single person."

Kravitz then explained: "I don't think I was singling him out. I wasn't saying it was Stephen Knowles' fault. I just named him."

Max Verstappen and George Russell. Image: Getty

At this point, Verstappen slapped back: "But you mentioned him. We're talking about him. You're singling him out.

"I do not need to discuss that anyway here. If we ever look at things that we can do better, we do that, like every other team. But I'm not going to stand here in front of the camera and say who was at fault exactly. We all live and learn."

Kravitz then concluded: "I wasn't asking you to do that. Just to be clear, I was asking how... You live and learn, exactly."

George Russell aims dig at Max Verstappen

Russell pulled no punches as he aimed a dig at Verstappen when asked about the reigning champion's potential ban.

He said: "If he gets to 12 points it [a ban] wouldn't be unjust. At the end of the day, that's why the penalty points are there.

"If you keep driving recklessly you will accumulate points, and get punished with a race ban. You've got it in your own hands and it doesn't go without risk."

If Verstappen manages to come through this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of the month without any incidents, two of his penalty points will expire before he takes to the wheel again at Silverstone.