You might think it’s a plot concocted for the Netflix cameras. It is not. It’s a real feud and it’s hard to see it diminishing as long as Max Verstappen and George Russell share the same track.
Given that Verstappen is 27 and Russell is 26, there is a long bumpy road ahead.
The thought of this final race taking place quietly under the Abu Dhabi sun was dashed when the couple in adjacent hospitality suites became the worst neighbours.
“A bully” who tried to drive him crazy, Russell alleged. “A loser,” scoffed Verstappen, who stepped up his objections to Russell’s “double-facedness”, feeling the Mercedes man had stitched him up in the stewards’ room in Qatar last weekend.
A characteristic of the quadruple world champion is that he is more direct and talkative when angry. As for Russell, we haven’t seen in a public setting how he reacts when cornered. Now we know: fight, which is what he had to do if he didn’t want to be Verstappen’s bunny for the rest of his career.
He couldn’t do what Lando Norris did after tangling with Verstappen in Austria. The McLaren driver first blamed Verstappen, but then retracted his complaints in the following race.
The new rivalry between George Russell (left) and Max Verstappen (right) is a real feud
Russell called Verstappen a “bully”, while the “loser” insult was thrown the other way.
Russell, 26, had to fight if he did not want to be Verstappen’s bunny for the rest of his career.
The relegation left the impression that the Dutchman had Norris exactly where he wanted him for the rest of the season: on and off the track.
Russell said before the Qatar race that he believed he would have beaten Verstappen to this year’s world title with either McLaren or Red Bull. Did that argument reach Verstappen’s ears before qualifying and the subsequent fight that started the insults?
Regardless of whether Russell’s comments irritated Verstappen or not, they meant the Briton couldn’t credibly back down now. And boy, did he tear Verstappen.
Having never caused controversy in a career marked by Mercedes’ corporate refinement, he criticized Max’s modus operandi.
“It’s funny because before I even said a word to the stewards, he was already insulting them,” Russell said. ‘He was so angry before I had even spoken. The facts were the facts. I was going too slow. I was on the racing line in the highest speed corner.
“I wasn’t trying to penalize him at all when he was on the track. I was in pole position at the time. I was just trying to prepare for my return. And as drivers, you fight hard on the track. You fight hard in the butlers. In the same way that Max, the next day, asked his team to watch Lando’s penalty through the yellow flag.
—That’s not personal, Max to Lando. That’s just racing. And I don’t see why he felt the need for this personal attack. And I’m not going to accept it.
‘I’ve known Max for a long time. I know what he’s capable of. He told me he was going to crash into me on purpose, putting my damn head into the wall.
The duo faced each other last weekend in Qatar and it is a narrative of concentration heading into the final race.
Russell claimed Michael Masi would have been “fighting for his life” if he had cost Verstappen the championship like he did to Lewis Hamilton in 2021.
“When I compare his actions to Lewis (Hamilton), Lewis is the type of world champion I aspire to be. The way he fought Max in 2021 was tough. Very tough. It’s fair. But never beyond line.
And Lewis lost that championship unfairly. Can you imagine the roles being reversed? Max losing that championship. I mean, (race director Michael) Masi would be fearing for his life.’
There is no doubt that Verstappen is a forceful driver and personality. As a racer, he is more in the uncompromising mold of Michael Schumacher than Hamilton, who has never been dirty on the track.
But Verstappen also has exceptional racing artistry, a fact he repeatedly underlined when defeating Norris.
He also demonstrated that same ability in his fiery but perfectly executed start last week. Having been demoted to a spot from pole for impeding Russell, the bone of contention, he muscled his way past Russell. One turn. A point made.
We now know what was going through Russell’s mind at that moment. Max was in his head.
Verstappen then put in a flawless race, leading every lap. Russell finished fourth, not his best day after his fabulous win in Las Vegas a week earlier.
But in his scathing comments, Russell hinted that he is not prepared to be trampled, even by a force of nature.
Verstappen won on the grid last week, overtaking Russell from the start and dominating the race.
Russell, however, has now hinted that he is not prepared to be trampled all over the place.
What could have been?
The Southern Sun is Abu Dhabi’s hotel for FIA staff. Walking into its lobby on Thursday morning, the mind wandered back to the eve of the 2021 decider here.
Michael Masi, whose “human error” cost him his job as race director a couple of days later, kept his word to grant me an interview.
We sat in the lobby and I joked with him that he “loved red flags,” as he had used the stop-the-race strategy more often than the late Charlie Whiting, whom he had the unenviable task of replacing.
But when Nicholas Latifi crashed, triggering the most controversial safety car in history, he didn’t wave the red flag. He was probably right not to, but it’s hard not to think about how different the story would have been if he had.
Michael Masi made history with his call at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix three years ago
His decision to bring out a controversial safety car resulted in Verstappen winning his first title.
expect the unexpected
Few things have more potential to drain spirits than dead rubber. And as for the drivers’ championship, this is the second of them.
But I remember thinking that before Romain Grosjean burst into flames in Bahrain four years ago. That set pulses racing, not least his own, as he achieved a miraculous escape. Formula One has a recurring ability to drop hot news when you least expect it.
Dead tires can often bring surprises in racing, like when Romain Grosjean caught fire in Bahrain four years ago.
Is Verstappen still a target?
Toto Wolff was present when George Russell spoke in the Mercedes hospitality area on Thursday. It’s strange, it’s not a normal procedure. A show of support, I guess.
One observation beyond that: Wolff did not criticize Verstappen, perhaps revealing that his move for the quadruple world champion by 2026 is still underway.
Max and George? That would be spicy.
Mercedes Toto Wolff did not criticize Verstappen this week: could he still be pointing to a move?
Barber chair, from London to Qatar
What does the author of this column have in common with Jude Bellingham?
Prodigious football talent, aside.
I had my hair cut by his barber in Qatar, part of a temporary barbershop in the paddock. Novak Djokovic and I were sponsors. Thanks to HD Cutz from London.
Jude Bellingham’s barber in Qatar cut the author of this column’s hair last week.
Hamilton’s last goodbye
Drinks on Thursday night were on the dock at the base of the Mercedes paddock, a couple of levels above where Russell had lit the fireworks a few hours earlier. A video celebrating Lewis Hamilton’s years with them was released and ended this weekend.
His manager Marc Hynes was present. But while I was there there was no sign of the great man. His relations with the press have been distant for a long time.