Max Verstappen is the “bad guy” Formula 1 needs and could engage in a classic title battle in F1 2025 with “schemer” George Russell.

That is the claim of former F1 driver Marc Surer, who also sees a place for the “good guy” Lando Norris in a battle for the crown next season.

F1 needs ‘bad guy’ Max Verstappen

Verstappen secured his fourth successive title in F1 2024, seeing off the challenge of Norris in the McLaren, though Russell has set his sights on challenging for World Championship glory next season.

But we did not need to wait until then for things to get spicy between Verstappen and Russell.

The Abu Dhabi GP race weekend kicked off with a vicious war of words between the pair, stemming from a Qatar qualifying incident which cost Verstappen pole as he accused Russell of “lying” to engineer a penalty – which came in the form of a one-place grid drop – adding he had “lost all respect” for the Brit, who said Verstappen had threatened to deliberately crash into him and “put me on my f***ing head in the wall.”

“You need a bad guy in Formula 1. There has always been one. And now we have another one,” was Surer’s verdict on Verstappen as he spoke to Formel1.de.

Russell was not the first to clash with Verstappen in F1 2024, the Dutchman having run ins with Norris, the FIA and the ‘British biased’ media.

And looking ahead to next season, Surer believes Formula 1 has the perfect three characters in place for a thrilling title battle.

“Of course, it comes to a head,” said Surer on Verstappen versus Russell, “and if they were to race for the World Championship, that would be great.

“We have Lando Norris as the good guy, Russell as perhaps the schemer, and then Max Verstappen, who sometimes overshoots the mark. So I think that’s great.”

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Russell swapped Williams for Mercedes in time for the 2022 campaign, but has not yet experienced being part of a title fight with the Mercedes team which won eight straight Constructors’ titles between 2014-21, with seven Drivers’ titles also secured in that record-breaking run.

However, he has his sights set on Verstappen for F1 2025 and believes he is up to the task.

“I’ve been in F1 six years now, next year is my seventh, and my fourth year with the team,” Russell told The Times.

“I feel absolutely ready to take my journey to the next level and I feel ready to fight for a championship.

“I feel ready to fight against Max and if we get the opportunity, I’m not going to waste it.

“I feel I’ve been ready for three years. I’m team-mates with the greatest driver of all time and if you’re ever finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton or beating him in a championship, you know that probably in 12 other seasons that would have been enough to win, or at least fight for a World Championship.”

Russell will have a new team-mate for F1 2025, with Lewis Hamilton on his way to Ferrari as Andrea Kimi Antonelli steps up to the plate at Mercedes.

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