George Russell ended the 2024 Formula One season in a blaze of publicity as his row with Max Verstappen went very public across the final two weekends of the year.

“People have been bullied by Max for years now,” said George.

Max countered with, “George is a backstabber. That he brings all this stuff up. He’s just a loser.”

“Max has been enabled because nobody’s stood up to him. He cannot deal with adversity, he slams his whole team and loses the plot,” responded Russell.

Verstappen accused his rival, saying: ”George lies and pastes all kinds of things together that aren’t true.”

 

 

 

Verstappen penalised at Russels request?

All this stemmed from an incident in Qatar Grand Prix qualifying where the drivers were finding their tyres would last for longer than one push lap in Q3. A number of drivers were reported for driving too slowly and received a slap on the wrist, yet when Russell happened upon Verstappen on a cool down lap the pair appeared to avoid a nasty collision by millimetres.

Max was following Fernando Alonso who was preparing for a hot lap and so the world champion remained about seven seconds behind the Aston Martin car. Onward images appeared to show Russell approaching the Red Bull at high speed as he too prepared for a push lap.

The pair were summonsed to the steward office where Verstappen claims Russell made an impassioned plea for Max to be sanctioned. Verstappen took exception at this claiming, “honestly, [it was] very disappointing because I think we’re all here, we respect each other a lot and of course, I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my life, in my career, with people that I’ve raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. And that for me… I lost all respect.”

Verstappen was given the unusual penalty by the stewards of a one place grid drop which coincidently saw his and Russell’s starting positions reversed.

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Rhetoric as high as historic F1 battles

Yet Russell was unhappy with the accusations from Max stating, “Now he’s made it personal, and someone needs to stand up to a bully like this. So far, people let him get away with murder.”

The strength of the rhotic being used between the pair was in fact up there with some of the most famous F1 war or words in history. Come Abu Dhabi, Russell refused to drop the bone and the town continued into the finale weekend of the season.

When asked if the incident was behind him Russell chose to reveal something Verstappen allegedly said prior to the start of the Grand Prix in Qatar. “He was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my f—ing head in the wall,’” revealed the Mercedes driver.

When asked about the allegations, Verstappen was adamant: “That’s already not correct. But you know, those things don’t surprise me. I just give my opinion about how he is. Of course, he’s not happy with it, but it’s the same thing he did at the stewards. Lying and putting things together that aren’t correct.”

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Norris suggests Russell went ‘too far’

The other drivers seemed surprised by the ferocity of the encounter which came out of nowhere. Lando Norris who grew up racing against Russell in the junior categories surprising failed to offer support to his rival. Norris believes Mercedes were so desperate to finish on a high that by snatching Max’s pole position this would validate the team’s efforts.

“Mercedes are not fighting for a championship so they will do what – at all costs – it takes to try and get a pole or win, and maybe he [George] has paid the price a little bit in the respect from Max.

“But everyone does things their own way. I enjoyed watching them argue the way they did,” concluded the McLaren man. The one place grid drop in Qatar had cost Verstappen pole position and handed it to Russell.

Of course since the early internal troubles at Red bull Racing this year, Toto Wolff has made it explicitly clear and on more than one occasion he would be happy for Max Verstappen to join Mercedes. Yet Mercedes have made their decision on young Kimi Antonelli who has impressed the engineers in Brackley and believe he has potential similar to that of Verstappen.

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The dog marking his F1 territory

So where would all this leave George Russell should Verstappen decide its time to move on, would it be Russel or Antonelli who would be forced to make way. The intense rivalry between Red Bull and Mercedes came to a head during the 2021 campaign. Hamilton appeared to cynically take out Verstappen in Silverstone while the Dutch driver relayed the favour later in Monza.

The war of words between the teams and the drivers was intense that season, such as it was patently clear to all, that this pair could never drive for the same F1 team.

The Russell/Verstappen row culminated in each drivers respective team boss getting involved with the Mercedes man claiming Horenr was “weak” for not downplaying his drivers’ outburst. “How can he feel entitled to comment about my driver? Having spent 90 seconds to think about it… [he’s a] yapping little terrier. Always something to say,” mocked Toto Wolff.

When informed of his rival’s comments, Christian Horner responded saying: “Well, look, I love terriers. I think they’re great dogs. And I’ve had four of them. I had a couple of Airedales, which are the king of the terriers. I had a couple of West Highland terriers, called Bernie and Flavio. And the good thing about a terrier is they’re tremendously loyal,” a dig maybe about how Mercedes only gave Lewis Hamilton a one year contract.

Yet there’s another aspect of this row to consider, with his team boss throwing open the doors to a future move for Max Verstappen to Mercedes, two into three does not go. As a dog marks his territory so it could be Russell was doing the same. By drawing Max into a furious row it presents the image the two cold never be team mates.

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Tsunoda had other teams interested in 2024

Yuki Tsunoda may feel he has been double dealt by his Red Bull Racing family who offered him a contract extension for 2025 early this season. The expectations were that either he or Daniel Ricciardo would replace the struggling Sergio Perez, but when the loveable Aussie was released after the summer break, the Japanese driver was sure to be in the box seat to replace the Mexican driver.

At the start of 2024, Ricciardo was expected to lead the V-CARB team yet over their eighteen race weekends together was Tsunoda who won the qualifying battle by a resounding 12-6. The Japanese driver famed for his red mist radio messages also appeared to have benefitted from his experience alongside Ricciardo, whom he credited with for his less emotional responses in the car when things didn’t go to plan.

With Ricciardo leaving the team and only Tsunoda with more than a handful of Grand Prix weekends under his belt, the consensus in the paddock was that Yuki with his four years experience in F1 would trump the newbie Liam Lawson who had been out qualified by his Japanese team mate 6-0 across their races together this season.