George Russell is dominating all the media day headlines at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a remarkable diatribe against Max Verstappen. F1 may be witnessing the birth of another great rivalry.
Russell hasn’t challenged Verstappen for the title this year. Instead, compatriot Lando Norris has been his closest competitor.
Heading into the Abu Dhabi GP, Russell is nearly 200 points behind Verstappen in the standings. He’s only won two races to the Dutchman’s nine, and stood on the podium four times to his 14.
In short, Verstappen has rarely had to think about Russell in 2024. But Mercedes have unexpectedly entered the victory fight at the last two races, with the 27-year-old winning in Las Vegas before taking pole in Qatar.
Russell inherited that pole from Verstappen after the stewards penalised him for a slow-lap infraction in qualifying. The Red Bull was furious with his opponent’s conduct in the stewards’ room.
There were no further incidents between the two in the race. Verstappen took the lead into the first corner, while Russell ultimately dropped to fourth.
Damon Hill stunned by George Russell’s Max Verstappen tirade at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Many expected the story to fade away after Verstappen’s victory, but he then launched a public attack in the top-three press conference. Most notably, he declared that he’d ‘lost all respect’ for Russell.
The Vegas winner had two options on Thursday’s media day – relent and remain focused on the weekend ahead, or refuse to back down. He chose the latter.
In comments shared by Motorsport.com’s Instagram page, Russell said he wasn’t ‘going to take it’ and added: “People have been bullied by Max for years.”
1996 world champion Damon Hill couldn’t believe what he was reading. He saw it as a declaration of sporting war from Russell.
“Oh boy,” he wrote on his story. “Fighting talk now.”
Does Damon Hill’s Sky Sports F1 exit have anything to do with Max Verstappen?
Hill has yet to take sides in the debate. But he was at the forefront of the widespread criticism of Verstappen after the Mexico City GP.
There, he picked up 20 seconds’ worth of penalties for two incidents with Lando Norris. Hill said Verstappen ‘let himself down’ by twice running the McLaren off the track.
This contributed to accusations of bias against Verstappen within the British media. Sky Sports later announced that Hill would be stepping away from his punditry duties at the end of the season.
However, there’s no indication that these are connected. Instead, according to The Mirror, Hill’s exit has been planned for a while.
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