McLaren may have won their first Cconstructors’ Championship in 26 years at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but another story got all the headlines over the weekend.
George Russell and Max Verstappen seemed to reignite the iconic Mercedes and Red Bull rivalry as their feud at the Qatar Grand Prix reached a new high in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly during a cooldown lap in qualifying which impeded Russell. The Brit reported the Dutchman to the stewards, leading to his controversial punishment.
Verstappen had an angry exchange with Russell before the race in Qatar, later claiming that he had lost respect for the Mercedes driver as he aggressively sought to get him a penalty. Tensions boiled over to the stewards’ room where Russell alleges that the Red Bull driver threatened to deliberately crash into him, with the FIA not planning to investigate said comments.
Russell labelled Verstappen a ‘bully’ in the media pen at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and encouraged his fellow drivers to stand up to the Dutchman. Verstappen doubled down on his comments in Qatar, joking that he would go flat out on cooldown laps and act like he would crash into everyone.
George Russell told he should have handled Max Verstappen drama like Kevin Magnussen handled Nico Hulkenberg in 2017
Many people praised Russell for using the media to call out Verstappen. Nico Rosberg said Russell did something that Lewis Hamilton ‘mastered’ in using the power of the media to draw attention to another driver’s actions.
Others believe it should have been handled differently. Some of F1’s ‘top brass’ wanted the feud to stay behind closed doors, which was never going to happen after Verstappen called out Russell in Qatar.
Dutch F1 pundit Tom Coronel agrees that the drama should not have ‘blown up like this in the press.’ Speaking on the RacingNews365 YouTube channel, he said that Russell should have coped Kevin Magnussen and his approach to dealing with Nico Hulkenberg with his iconic x-rated response after the German called out the Dane at the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix.
“By the way, I always have something like, why does it all have to be in the press?” said Coronel.
“So intensely grab him by the throat, just discuss it and give each other a push. And you know, the Magnussen and Hulkenberg [and] you’re done. You know, it’s done.
“I understand that frustration but guys, in the end only one thing determines what this is, the result. So, just make sure you show it on the track and then it will be fine. You don’t have to show what everyone is, it’s different [in] every country, everyone was raised differently, everyone thinks differently.
“Guys, this should not actually be blown up like this in the press, not even by us.”
Could Lando Norris have handled Max Verstappen like George Russell did?
Whichever way people think about how Russell dealt with the situation, the general feeling amongst many is that Lando Norris should have had the same approach with Verstappen
The McLaren driver came to blows several times with the Dutchman over the course of the season, with the latter pushing the boundaries when it comes to defending the inside line. But rather than call out Verstappen, Norris seemed mostly unbothered and looked to continue moving forward with his racing.
READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration
Jolyon Palmer thinks Norris was too magnanimous with Verstappen this season as he praised Russell in the way he called out his rival in such a public way.
Craig Slater said Russell did what many were calling for Norris to do and question the Red Bull driver. But the Brit had a more conservative approach in 2024, opting to try and find middle ground with his rival.
Nevertheless, the feud has set up an even more exciting 2025 season as the likes of Russell and Norris look to take the fight to Verstappen and end his recent dominance.
