Max Verstappen may be over all the talk about his penalty points, but Damon Hill appreciated George Russell’s “cheeky comment” after he beat the Red Bull driver to pole in Canada.

Russell and Verstappen set up a juicy clash at the Canadian Grand Prix as the Spanish Grand Prix rivals locked out the front row of the grid.

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Russell clinched pole position by two-tenths ahead of Verstappen, their newest battle coming in the wake of their Spanish Grand Prix collision.

Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty for controversially colliding with Russell late in the race as he appeared to give the Mercedes driver track position in response to their earlier battle but instead accelerated.

The stewards ruled Verstappen ‘undoubtedly caused’ and later gave him three penalty points on his Super Licence, that taking him to 11 for the 12-month rolling period.

That means Verstappen is one point away from an automatic race ban.

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Russell could resist a dig when he spoke with 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve immediately after qualifying.

Asked if he was going to take an ‘aggressive’ approach or consider ‘championship points’, a smiling Russell said: “We’re mates, so it’s all good.

“I mean, I’ve got a few more points on my license to play with.

“So, yeah, let’s see.”

Hill appreciated the “cheeky” dig from the Mercedes driver.

“Lovely cheeky comments from George Russell on driver penalty points,” the 1996 World Champion wrote on X.

“Didn’t mention any names, but of course he meant Max Verstappen and these two have history.

“Going to be an interesting corner 1!”

But while Hill was all smiles, Verstappen is done with all the talk about his penalty point situation.

“I don’t need to hear it again,” he said in the post-qualifying press conference. “* It’s really pissing me off.

“I mean, you were speaking about it on Thursday. It’s such a waste of time. It’s very childish.

“So, that’s why I also don’t want to say too much because it’s really annoying, this world that we live in.”

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