George Russell is one of the big-name Formula 1 drivers looking to dethrone Max Verstappen in 2025. On the day that Verstappen sealed his fourth consecutive title in Las Vegas, Russell bagged his third Grand Prix win.
Russell took an assured pole position in Sin City and dominated the race, building a huge lead at the front. Lewis Hamilton trimmed that advantage to around seven seconds by the chequered flag, but Russell was simply protecting his tyres in the final stint.
The 26-year-old has quietly been one of the most impressive drivers on the grid in 2024. While he’s only scored four podiums, he’s almost always extracted the maximum from his inconsistent Mercedes car.
Russell has also thrashed F1’s most successful driver Hamilton 17-5 in qualifying, and beaten him in 13 of the 19 races both drivers have finished. It could be the second time in three seasons that he outscores his fellow countryman.
His 2025 title ambitions will depend on whether Mercedes can finally make a breakthrough in the last year of the ground effect ruleset. Vegas showed that their car can be exceptional in very specific conditions, but they need to widen that window.
Russell told Viaplay last weekend that it’s ‘about time’ a driver gave Verstappen a ‘proper fight’. He’s sealed the title with multiple races to spare in each of the last three seasons.
Max Verstappen refutes George Russell that it was ’19 against one’ over F1 racing rules
As the leader of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, Russell is often the spokesman for his competitors. Speaking at the Mexico City GP last month (via Autosport), he said ’19 out of 20′ drivers were aligned on changes to the racing rules.
He heavily implied that Verstappen was the only dissenting voice, pushing to delay revisions until 2025 rather than implementing them immediately. The consensus is that the wheel-to-wheel guidelines need to change after recent incidents involving the Red Bull driver.
In Austin, Lando Norris received a highly controversial penalty for passing Verstappen off the track. McLaren felt the Dutchman had effectively forced Norris off by diving to the apex without any intention of making the corner.
Motorsport Netherlands reporter Ronald Vording says Verstappen challenged Russell on media day ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix. He feels that the Mercedes driver has painted a misleading picture of their briefings.
“Russell already said 19 drivers think this should be different and one does not,” Vording explained. “With that, he pointed a bit to Max Verstappen.
“Well, Max Verstappen said today that is actually not right. Max said it wasn’t 19 against one at all and that it wasn’t the case that he was the only one who wouldn’t agree with everything.”
The Max Verstappen comments that prove he’s a ‘good guy’ in F1 after all
Verstappen has been villainised by some of his critics throughout his career, and that has continued in 2024. This was loudest of all after the race in Mexico, where Verstappen ran Norris off the road twice and earned 20 seconds worth’ of penalties.
1996 world champion Damon Hill said Verstappen ‘let himself down’ on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. That fuelled accusation of bias in the British media.
But one former F1 driver thinks Verstappen showed he was a ‘good guy’ after all with his message to Norris after the Las Vegas GP. Norris was his sole remaining challenger but finished a place behind in Nevada.
Verstappen has assured him that his time will come, even if he denied him his championship dream on this occasion. The two drivers have seemingly remained friends despite their growing rivalry.
Leave feedback about this