Nico Rosberg demands Max Verstappen is disqualified from race after ramming George Russell

Nico Rosberg admitted that Max Verstappen should've been disqualified from the Spanish Grand Prix after in the final laps of the race.

The driver cut a frustrated figure and was told by his team to let the star pass, only to drive straight into the side of Russell as he backed out of letting him have fourth spot. The move, by many, appeared deliberate and Verstappen has refused to deny it.

Verstappen was hit with a ten-second penalty for the move, which dropped him from fifth down to tenth as he lost more ground in the championship. Rosberg, who raced against the Red Bull man, claimed such manoeuvres are worthy of a black flag.

He said on : "The first one, it was George's fault because he only complied with two out of those three things you have to comply with when you overtake, so Max could have stayed in front – he didn't have to give up that place. But then Red Bull told him to give up the place and that then caused his blood to boil over even more.

"And then it looked like a very intentional retaliation – wait for the opponent and then ramming into him, just like you felt he did to you. And that is something that is extremely unacceptable, I think. The rules then would be a black flag, yes. If you wait for your opponent just to then ram into him, crash into him, that's a black flag."

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Verstappen was asked if his move on Russell was deliberate and simply responded: "Does it matter?" Pushed again for an answer he said: "Yeah, OK. That's great. I prefer to speak about the race rather than one single moment."

As he lost ground in the championship hunt the Red Bull man, who has won the last four world titles, appeared to claim his chances of winning a fifth in a row are remote. "If there are any. I think we are way too slow to fight for the title. That was clear again today," he said.

Russell admitted, despite being an influential voice on the grid, that it was not up to him to try and stop Verstappen's controversial actions on track.

He said: "I'm too close to give my opinion on behalf of the drivers. 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. Charles and I actually dropped off like a stone on those last two laps."