The ongoing feud between George Russell and Max Verstappen has reached new heights as tensions flare ahead of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The conflict, which erupted following the Qatar Grand Prix, has seen both drivers exchange serious accusations, with the Mercedes driver accusing the Dutchman of bullying and threatening behavior.
The dispute began during the Qatar Grand Prix qualifying session where Max Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty for impeding George Russell. The incident happened when both drivers were on preparation laps, and Verstappen slowed down significantly, which nearly caused a collision with Russell.
The stewards deemed the recently crowned F1 world champion’s actions as obstructive, resulting in a penalty that dropped him from pole position to second place behind Russell.
This decision sparked a heated exchange between the two drivers, with Verstappen expressing his discontent publicly, stating that he had “lost all respect” for George Russell due to his behavior during the stewards’ hearing.
In a media briefing ahead of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Russell responded to Verstappen’s remarks with a scathing critique of his rival’s character.
The British driver claimed that Verstappen had threatened him with physical harm, revealing that during their encounter in the stewards’ room, Verstappen said he would “put me on my f***ing head in the wall.”
“I find it all quite ironic, considering Saturday night he said he’s going to purposely go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, ‘put me on my fucking head in the wall,’” George Russell said, according to ESPN.
“To question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find it very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it.
“People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity whenever anything has gone against him.
“Jeddah ’21, Brazil ’21, he lashes out. Budapest this year, very first race, the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team.
“As I said, for me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary, because what happens on track, we fight hard. It’s part of racing.
“What happens in the steward’s room? You fight hard, but it’s never personal. But you know, he’s taking it too far now.”
George Russell’s accusations did not stop there; he also condemned Verstappen’s aggressive driving style towards other drivers. He referenced past incidents involving Verstappen’s conduct towards drivers like Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton revealing a troubling pattern of aggression that needs to be addressed.
“[I’m speaking out] because he’s come out in the media, and I feel has disrespected me as a driver,” said Russell. “I’ve known him for 12 years, we’ve had respect with one another beforehand.
“We’ve never had any collisions. In the junior categories, he was always one [year ahead] — Max is a year older than me, so we only crossed paths once, in 2011, but we never really had any sort of comings-together.
“But we’ve got a guy who’s on the top of this sport who feels he’s above the law, and I don’t think that’s right.
“I admire his on-track battles, and when he’s hard and aggressive. But what we saw in the end of the season in ’21 or what we saw in Mexico with Lando [Norris], they weren’t hard, aggressive maneuvers.
“They were, ‘Do or die –I’m willing to take this guy out.’ Which I don’t think is the way we should go racing. I honestly just want to set the record straight because it’s just a total double standard that he has for the regulations, and just thinking that he is above everybody else.“
George Russell further claims that he no longer respects Max Verstappen due to the way he handled hardships over the season, bringing up the Hungarian Grand Prix once more, in which the Red Bull driver was very outspoken over team radio.
“It can’t just keep going on like that. For me, it’s interesting, this whole regard with him and his own team,” he said. “They’re doing their utmost to get [Christian] Horner out of Red Bull.
”But at the very first race that he wasn’t competitive, he was absolutely slamming his team, and I know for a fact the week after, a quarter of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston.
“So I don’t respect somebody who doesn’t appreciate those who have given him the chance to perform, because these last 12 races, he has had a car that is of normal competitiveness.
”He’s been in the fight the same way as myself, Lewis, Charles [Leclerc], Carlos [Sainz], Lando and [Oscar] Piastri have been. And that’s how it should be.”
