The 2024 Formula 1 season has been chaotic, but few people would have seen a feud between Red Bull star Max Verstappen and Mercedes star George Russell beginning at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen was the eventual winner of the Qatar Grand Prix but didn’t benefit from starting from pole position despite starting the fastest time in qualifying.
Instead, George Russell started from first but his Mercedes was no match for Verstappen’s Red Bull during the second phase of the run down to the first corner.
Russell was forced onto the outside line and Lando Norris also sneaked past his fellow Brit.
Verstappen was still furious after the race having been handed a one-place grid penalty for driving too slowly on his cooldown lap during qualifying.
It’s an almost unprecedented penalty to be handed out and Ted Kravitz has shared on Ted’s Notebook what Verstappen said to Russell ahead of the race in Qatar.
In his post-race interview, Verstappen admitted that he had ‘lost all respect’ for Russell because of what he said in front of the stewards after qualifying.
Kravitz believes that Netflix picked up the entire exchange for Drive to Survive which will be one of the reasons why next year’s episode on the Qatar Grand Prix will be must-watch viewing.
Max Verstappen’s ‘seething’ message to George Russell ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix
Reflecting on the confrontation between Verstappen and Russell, Kravitz said: “The rumour is with George Russell, first you would have heard Max Verstappen saying that the way George pushed so hard for Max to get a penalty, I’ve never seen anyone to bleep someone over that hard.
“And the way that George fished for a penalty in the FIA hearing.
“The rumour is and I think you’ll find this when Drive to Survive airs in February because they’re definitely not going to leave this little snippet on the editing room floor that on the Driver’s Parade holding room, Max then confronted George, still seething as we’ve said, he uses that anger as a motivation, for this one-place grid drop.
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“He said something along the lines of you and your FIA mates, I hope you’re happy with what you’ve done or your FIA buddies.
“I think the actual quote was rather ruder than that but I’m not going to say what it was, but that seems to be the confrontation that Christian Horner referred to, that it all got a bit tasty between them.”
Max Verstappen proved his legendary status with his drive during the Qatar Grand Prix
Verstappen managed to stay calm despite the chaos of the race in Qatar.
When Alex Albon’s mirror ended up on the straight heading down to the first corner, Verstappen was the man who spotted that Norris didn’t lift and that earned him a race-ruining penalty.
If the Drivers’ Championship was still alive heading into Sunday’s race, it would have been a dramatic way for Verstappen to clinch after spotting his rival’s mistake behind him.
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Christian Horner noted a safety car issue Verstappen dealt with that could have seen Norris overtake him due to an unlikely fault.
As is always the case with the Dutchman, he handed that pressure with aplomb and although the Constructors’ Championship is mathematically impossible to win now, Verstappen can look back on this campaign with a lot of pride and potentially one more enemy on the track.
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