The war of words between Max Verstappen and George Russell escalated in F1 Abu Dhabi GP weekend after the latter shared his view, with Toto Wolff joining in.
It all felt normal until just after the F1 Qatar GP when Red Bull’s Verstappen in the press conference showed his displeasure over the tactics of Mercedes’ Russell. The Dutchman felt unjust that the Brit ‘screwed’ him in the stewards room and pressed them for a penalty.
He was handed one place drop which allowed Russell to be on pole. The Brit didn’t have the pace eventually to lose out, as Verstappen took a solid win. The Dutchman noted that he lost respect for the Brit as he felt he was being good in front of camera, but is different behind it.
Verstappen expanded on the penalty call when asked about the same during Abu Dhabi GP press conference. The Dutchman, though, did not have any regrets to what he said. In fact, he wanted to say more on Russell, but chose to double down on the thoughts to limit them.
Thoughts now on penalty –
Verstappen: “Yeah, I’m going to go flat out on my cool app. And I’m going to act like I’m going to crash with everyone. I know. Honestly, I just didn’t understand. I didn’t even know why I was in there. And then, honestly, when I was in there, I was just trying to explain the story behind it. I was just trying to be nice. Lando passed me because he was a second behind me on the SC2. He was on colder tyres because he only did a build. Or he had to abort his lap or whatever. So he passed me. I was like, ‘OK, whatever, I just back out. I don’t want to be in anyone’s way’. We’re anyway in Q3, just finding track position. Then I think Fernando came out of the pits with new tyres. And I think it was quite clear that weekend with the new tyres, you have to push quite hard on the out lap to get temp.
“So out of Turn 10, I see him in the mirror, flying. I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll let him by, whatever, and then I’ll just sort myself out’. Then, of course, everything slowed up in front, because there were quite a few cars. And I slowed down as well, because I don’t want to then speed up, try to ruin their preparation as well. And then I see someone flying in my mirror, acting like the most dangerous situation just happened and he almost killed himself or something. It was unbelievable. And we were all on the slow lap. It’s not even like someone was on a fast lap. So yeah, when I got called to the Stewards, it was a big surprise to me, because I didn’t really impede anyone. I think also on the slow lap, we all drive on our normal lines, because we’re all trying not to pick up dirt anyway. It’s not necessary when everyone is driving slow. But then, yeah, I don’t know how they came, of course, to that conclusion.
“It was, of course, for me, very disappointing, because, by actually trying to stay out of trouble, you put yourself in trouble. And also, I think, at that point of the season, almost the end of the season, I don’t want to be fighting with anyone. They come after me after qualifying, like, ‘why didn’t you ruin my lap, to start my lap? What are you doing?’ So I’m like, oh, I don’t want to put myself in that position. But basically, by doing that, I put myself in that position where I had to be going to the Stewards. And I felt straight away when I was in there, it was not going to go anywhere. So it was very weird.”
Nico Hulkenberg: “Yeah, no, I don’t understand it either. Like Max explained, in Qatar, there was a lot of different, you know, run profiles, people doing all sorts of different stuff. And, you know, it’s very easy to get tangled up. But we drivers know that, too and I think we also have to build that in and, you know, leave some buffer. And, yeah, I don’t understand why Max got a penalty there.”
No regrets, him being GPDA director –
Verstappen: “No. No regrets at all, because I meant everything I said. And it’s still the same. If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race result. I still can’t believe that someone can be like that in a Stewards’ room. For me, that was so unacceptable, because I mean, we’re all racing drivers. We all have a lot of respect for each other. We even play sports together. You travel together. And of course, you have moments where you get together, you crash or whatever. You’re not happy.
“In my whole career, I’ve never experienced what I have experienced in the Stewards’ room in Qatar. And for me, that was really unacceptable. And no, it has nothing to do with him being the director of the GPDA. I just never expected someone to really try and actively get someone a penalty that badly and lying about why I was doing what I was doing. But clearly, it had an influence to them. Yeah, it was just really not nice and actually very shocking what was going on there.”
Like Qatar, the media session for Russell happened after Verstappen. The Brit did speak to a very limited media before speaking a larger one where even Mercedes boss Wolff joined in. It is not normal for a team principal to join a drivers’ press brief on Thursday, but he wanted to show support.
In fact, he questioned Red Bull’s Christian Horner for getting into the thick of things and didn’t want him to question the integrity of his driver. Russell, too, wanted to clear his integrity after it was questioned by Verstappen in the manner it did. He said his side of things of what transpired.
What irked him was Verstappen’s anger during the stewards session and after it where he said things that didn’t sit well with Russell. At that moment, he took it lightly but when he went to meet the Dutchman in the drivers’ parade, the Red Bull driver had same anger still in him.
Russell didn’t wished to get bullied into things, as he recalled the moments that Verstappen has been let off which includes the close title fight in 2021. The Brit reckons a world champion should behave like a champion, since he is a role model to kids, which is why he aspires more towards Lewis Hamilton.
What happened on Saturday –
Russell: “Well, it’s funny because even before I said a word in the stewards, he was swearing at the stewards, he was so angry, before I’d even spoken. And at the end of the day, there’s nothing to lie about, the facts were the facts. He was going too slow, he was on the racing line in the highest speed corner, I wasn’t trying to get him a penalty at all when I was on track. I was in pole position at this time, I was just trying to prepare my lap. And as drivers, you fight hard on track, you fight hard in the stewards, the same way as Max, the very next day, asked his team to look at Lando’s penalty through the yellow flag. That’s not personal, Max to Lando, that’s just racing. And I do not see why he felt the need for this personal attack, and I’m not going to take it.”
Things with Verstappen now, will speak or not –
Russell: “Things happen and people move on. We’re adults and we’re mature, and I’ve got… As I said, right now it’s not even something I’m thinking about. I never had the intention for a Max under the bus like this, until he comes out and slams me so personally. This is not like I’m angry with Max, this is me just setting the record straight. I’m not going to stand here watching some guy slam me personally, as he has done. I don’t need to talk to him. I don’t need to talk to him at all. There’s nothing for me to say. I’m an adult. I’m not losing any sleep over it whatsoever. I know what Max is like. This is not the first time I’ve seen him like this. I’ve seen him like this as a 14-year-old in the go-kart paddock. So this is just me sharing and sharing what happened really on Saturday night.”
Whether Verstappen would have done what he said, mindset changed –
Russell: “I’ve known Max for a long time and I know what he’s capable of. He said to me he’s going to purposely go out of his way to crash into me, putting my f*****g head in the wall. I knew that was a bit of a heat of the moment thing, but when I went to see him the next day at the Drivers’ Parade, when Checo was there, when Carlos was there, and we were joking around a little bit, I saw it in his eyes that he means it. He’s a four-time world champion. When I compare his actions to the ones of Lewis, Lewis is the sort of world champion who I aspire to be like. The way he fought Max in ‘21 is hard, very hard, it’s fair, but never beyond the line. I think we’ve also got a duty as drivers. I’ve got an eight-year-old nephew who’s just started go-karting, who watches all of my races, watches TikTok, watches YouTube.
“For a world champion to come out saying he’s going to go out of his way to crash into someone and put them on their f*****g head, that is not the sort of role models we should be. I’m not changing my mindset whatsoever. Also in Qatar, I didn’t change my mindset whatsoever. The start was pretty tame in Qatar. We both made good starts, he just got ahead. I was expecting a little bit more, but we have to see better. As I said, I’m not losing any sleep over it. I never had the intention of coming out and speaking to you like this, but he’s gone too far now with his personal attack. Now I’m returning the favour and putting the truth out there. As of tonight, for me this is put to bed and it’s in race mode and I’m focused on the weekend.”
Will escalate further –
Russell: “I don’t really know what there is to escalate. As I said, I walked into that steward with no problem with Max. I walked out of that steward with no problem with Max. His shits hit the fan and the words he said to me. But again, I went back and I told my team and we laughed about it. And then I woke up the next day and I was expecting to have a laugh about it. But as I said, I saw the fire in his eyes. So I don’t know why this topic has got him so angry. And like I said to you before, he cannot deal with adversity. He’s had the most dominant car in recent history for two and a half years. I’m not questioning his driving abilities one single bit.
“But the second he does not have the fastest car, let’s take Budapest as an example. He crashes into Lewis. He slams his whole team and he loses the plot. Straight away after that race, 25% of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston Martin. They said they can’t deal with a guy like that. And since Austria, he’s won the same number of races as six other drivers. So when you say, is Max beatable? Of course he’s beatable. When he’s in the most dominant car, he is not beatable. The same way as Lewis and I, when we had the most dominant car in Silverstone, in Las Vegas, we were not beatable either.”
Enabled Verstappen to what he is now –
Russell: “I think he’s been enabled because nobody’s stood up to him. Lewis stood up to him in 2021. And Lewis lost that championship unfairly. Could you imagine the roles being reversed and Max losing that championship in the manner that Lewis lost that championship? I mean, Masi would be fearing for his life. So, as I said, some of the recent incidents, he has been punished. And he punished himself, Mexico with the reckless overtakes, Budapest with the reckless overtake. But it’s just in the past. He has such a dominant car. He’s not been in this position. So, I think the FIA are pretty on it now. And I don’t think much needs to change from their viewpoint because he’s going to punish himself one way or another.”
Will complain what Verstappen said, him being angry –
Russell: “I have no idea, to be honest. And it’s not something that I even…I’m not looking to get Max penalised. I’m not looking for any repercussion from this. I am standing up for myself for a guy who is coming out, questioning my integrity as a person, slamming me in the press. And I just want to set the record straight. As I said, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But for me, he crossed a line at the weekend. And that was too much. I honestly think it could have been anybody in that stewards room and Max would have reacted the same way. He’s made it personal when there was no need to make it personal. You know, what happened to Baku was nothing. You know, we are… He’s a year older than me, so he was always…we only crossed paths once in Go-kart in 2011. But, as I said, he was wound up and frustrated before I even spoke in that stewards room. And I’m confident no matter who it would have been, sat on the opposite chair, who just said the facts in the stewards room, he would have reacted the exact same way.”
Supporting driver, Horner’s say –
Wolff: “I think as a team principle, it’s important to be a sparring partner for your drivers. And that means explaining that things can be more nuanced. Statements that are absolutistic, thinking that everything is either right, 100% right or 100% wrong, is just something you need to explain. Think more nuanced, depending on your perception and your perspective. You need to allow for something to be 51-49. You need to allow it to be 70-30. So there’s always another side. And maybe when you look at it that way and you explain it to your drivers and to your team, you come to the conclusion that there is truth on both sides. If you don’t do that, you’re failing short of your role.
“It’s just weak. And at the end, why does he feel entitled to comment about my driver? How does that come? But you know, thinking about it, I spent 90 seconds to think about it. Yapping little terrier, always something to say. There is this thing between drivers, and this is George and Max, and I don’t want to get involved in that, but if the other team principal calls George hysteric, this is where he crosses a line for me. Now, his fault for sure is not intellectually in psychoanalysis, but that’s quite a world. How dare you? How dare you comment on the state of mind of my driver?”
Take on Verstappen, Russell –
Lando Norris: “To be honest, every driver on the grid would do the same what Max did, That’s racing, you know, there’s the rules. Max could tell I didn’t obey the rules. I could have done, I still could have lifted – and he just doesn’t know, but he’s thought of something, and he said it. That’s completely fine by me. As for the fight, I don’t know all the details, I should know the details of what happened. But that’s for them to squabble about and go at it. So, you have the two sides. You have the side of… we’re paid to come here and to race and to perform well for our team. In some ways, no matter what, at what cost, you want to win and you want to give yourself the best opportunity. For George, that was by saying probably what he said and doing what he said.
“At times, I think between drivers, you have that amount of respect when something happens, you’re like, like, ‘that’s racing, well, that’s just what happens sometimes’, and you don’t want either of them to get a penalty, because it’s racing and, ‘oh, it’s just a situation where no one should really get a penalty’. Mercedes are not fighting for a championship or something like that, so they’re kind of clinging on to a bit more than what Max is. So, they’re going to do what all it takes to try and get a pole or try and get a win. So, maybe he’s paid the price a little bit of that from a respect, amount of respect from Max. But… everyone does things their own way. Some fight harder for things, some fight less. But I enjoy watching them argue like they did.”
Here’s George Russell on Max Verstappen
Here’s Max Verstappen, Christian Horner on George Russell
Here’s FIA on their decisions
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