Inside F1's biggest feud & Max Verstappen and George Russell's sour relationship

Daily Mirror

4 days ago

Whenever there is a spat in Formula 1 these days, more often than not it's the same two men at the centre of it. Max Verstappen is no stranger to rubbing people up the wrong way but it's more surprising that George Russell, usually a more sedate, measured character, is the one who ends up clashing with the Dutchman the most.
They have known each other since they were children – both are 27, Verstappen 138 days older than his British rival. In 2012, they were both winners in the European Karting Championship held in Lincolnshire. Last September, Russell posted a photo of them celebrating with each other as teenagers.
But things have soured in recent years, particularly since Russell stepped up to Mercedes and began to compete with Verstappen at the sharp end of the F1 grid.
The first major clash came at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Russell punched a hole in the sidepod of Verstappen's Red Bull during the Sprint race. The latter waited for Russell in the pit lane to confront him, leading to a tense argument on TV at the end of which the Dutchman called his rival a "d***head".
But the real fireworks came last December, starting with a grid penalty for Verstappen at the Qatar Grand Prix after impeding Russell during qualifying. He won the race anyway but was clearly still seething, telling reporters after the race that he had "never seen someone trying to screw me over that hard".
It all kicked off a week later in Abu Dhabi, the season finale, when Verstappen claimed Russell had "lied" to the Qatar stewards to get him penalised. That made the Brit snap – he and boss Toto Wolff spent an entire media session in the Mercedes hospitality unit "setting the record straight".
The highlight was Russell claiming that Verstappen had threatened to "put my head in the f***ing wall". He also said: "I think [Verstappen] has been enabled because nobody stood up to him. Lewis [Hamilton] stood up to him in 2021 and Lewis lost that championship unfairly."
Still, despite that history, he was surprised by Verstappen's petulance in Barcelona on Sunday. What the f***?" he asked over the radio before telling Sky Sports afterwards that he had not expected his rival to pull a stunt like that.
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But the fact Verstappen was penalised and dropped to 10th, doing significant damage to his own title chances, allowed Russell to take the moral high ground. "Ultimately, I came home in P4 and he came home in P10," he said pointedly.
In modern F1, where driver relationships are more cordial than ever, what happens on track is usually quickly forgotten. The exception seems to be when it involves these two, with little love lost there despite having known each other for half their lives. It's hardly a Senna vs Prost level rivalry but, if one day Verstappen and Russell end up being direct title rivals, that could certainly change.