Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: War of words escalates between George Russell and Max Verstappen

The 2024 Formula 1 season draws to a close this weekend, with the year-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

And it might not come a moment too soon for some.

The war of words between Max Verstappen and George Russell that began last week at the Qatar Grand Prix escalated on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, as drivers met with the media for the final time this season. In Qatar Verstappen was given a one-place grid penalty, as well as a point on his Super License, for slowing down in front of Russell near the end of qualifying. The penalty dropped Verstappen from pole position, and promoted Russell to the top spot on the grid.

In the FIA Press Conference after his win, Verstappen did not hold back when addressing the incident, and the meeting with race officials. The Red Bull driver was asked about the penalty, as well as Russell’s role in the investigation and decision.

“Honestly, I mean... I couldn’t believe that I got it. But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I’m not surprised anymore in the world that I live in. So, yeah. You’re not happy with it. But at one point or another, you have to just turn the page. But, yeah, it wasn’t very enjoyable to see that happen, because I think that’s the first time that in a slow lap someone has been penalised,” began Verstappen. “While, actually, I just tried to be nice. So maybe I shouldn’t be nice. But the thing is that, you know, well, being nice, because at the end of the season, everything is more or less decided, for me especially, I didn’t want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap. And by doing that, you know, being nice, basically you get a penalty. And that’s what I tried to explain as well.

“But I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall. So there’s not much that was possible for whatever reason. Well, I think I really spoke about valid reasons of what happened and it was clear cut that around me there were different scenarios going on as well, with people having colder tyres and stuff so they had to push anyway and I didn’t want to then cause a scene into a last corner. and then, you know, no one had a lap,” continued Verstappen. “So very, very surprising.

“And then the second part of the question,” started Verstappen when he turned to Russell. “Yeah, I was quite surprised when sitting there in the Stewards’ room, what was all going on. Honestly, 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 have raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard.

“And that for me… I lost all respect.”

You can see a portion of Verstappen’s comments here:

On Thursday Russell offered his first response to Verstappen’s comments, and the Mercedes driver did not hold back. Meeting with the media ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Russell blasted Verstappen, calling his remarks in Qatar “ironic” given what the Red Bull driver reportedly said to Russell that weekend.

“I find it all quite ironic considering Saturday night he said he’s going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, ‘Put me on my f***ing head in the wall’,” Russell said.

“So to question somebody’s integrity as a person while saying comments like that the day before, I find very ironic.

“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, the very first race car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis [Hamilton], slamming his team.

“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 stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal.

“But he’s taken it too far now.”

Russell went on.

“[Verstappen] said, ‘I don’t know why you’d want to screw me like this. I’m so disappointed in you. I was going to not even race you tomorrow. I was going to let you by, but now if I have to, I’ll purposefully go out my way, put you on your f***ing head in the wall’.

“I don’t understand why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that whole regard.”

The Mercedes driver asserted that Verstappen believes that he is “above everybody else” in the F1 world.

“I honestly just want to set the record straight, to be honest, because it’s just a total double standard that he has for the regulations and just thinking that he is above everybody else,” Russell said. “So it’s not me trying to assert my leadership style or anything. It’s just somebody has come out and said that I’m a two-faced motherf***er.

“And he’s entitled to his own opinions, but coming out and saying that publicly and slamming me publicly; I’m just not going to accept it and I’m going to tell people what the reality was.”

For his part, Verstappen stood by his comments in Qatar. Addressing them at the FIA Press Conference in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Verstappen indicated he did not have any “regrets” for what he said last week.

“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 results,” said the Red Bull driver.

“I still can’t believe that someone can be like that in the stewards’ room. For me, that was so unacceptable, because 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.”

Verstappen went on to indicate that his comments had nothing to do with Russell’s role as the Director of the Grand Prix Driver’s Association. “No, it has nothing to do with him being the director of the GPDA,” added Verstappen. “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.”

The 2024 F1 season may conclude this weekend, but the sport’s latest feud shows no signs of slowing down.