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It was when Toto Wolff came in, at the beginning of the George Russell era. extraordinary press conference in the Mercedes paddock, which this already crazy day really jumped the shark.
The Mercedes F1 team principal does not usually attend press conferences on Thursday afternoons; This being the day that the 20 drivers are available. In fact, Wolff’s presence on a Thursday was unprecedented. But with Netflix cameras rolling and a crackle in the air, and your correspondent just asked about the likelihood of Russell and Max Verstappen one day becoming teammates given that they now apparently hate others (but also taking into account the fact that Wolff has a predilection for the Red Bull driver): the Austrian himself entered and dropped down next to Russell. Cue laughter.
It seemed so staged that it was tempting to wonder if this whole fight between Russell and Verstappen had been at the request of Netflix; some late-season fun between two of F1’s top drivers now that the title race is over. Involve all the big players. Have them discredit each other in the media. Spice things up a little. It will be a good final episode for season 7.
But that would be too cynical. Russell, for one thing, is too serious for that. You could tell he was sincerely upset by what Verstappen said about him last weekend, although perhaps not to the extent that Dutch journalists, who described the King’s Lynn driver with “tears in his eyes”, made him out to be.
As for Verstappen, “Max doesn’t give a damn about Netflix,” Lando Norris noted later. “That is already obvious. If you don’t know that, you don’t know Max.” Good point.
“It’s real,” Norris concluded of the explosive dispute between Verstappen and Russell, which was fought in real time in the Abu Dhabi paddock on Thursday as the drivers went from press conference to press conference, from the media corral where they spoke. with the announcers. , to their homes in the paddock to speak to the media in their own countries. At each station, update yourself on what the other had said and respond in the same way.
Question: “George, Max says you’re a liar.”
“Well, that’s funny because before he even said a word to the stewards, he was cursing at the stewards. He was so angry before I had even spoken. And at the end of the day, there is nothing to lie about. The facts were the facts. he was going too slow. I was on the racing line in the highest speed corner. I wasn’t trying to give him any penalties when he was on the track. “I was in pole position at the time.”
Question: “Max, George says that 25 percent of your engineering team sent their CVs after you criticized the team in Budapest.”
“Well, that’s a lie. “George is a loser.”
Later that night, Norris posted a photo on Instagram showing the Formula One drivers having dinner in Abu Dhabi. In his caption, Norris couldn’t resist referring to the feud between two of his rivals.
All of which raises a fascinating question. Is the love affair between Mercedes and Verstappen over? Could Wolff ever bring in the four-time Red Bull champion now that he has criticized Russell to this point? Could Russell and Verstappen ever work together?
The answer to whether Verstappen could one day join Mercedes is: never say never. Certainly, Wolff remains an admirer. It quickly became clear that he was at Russell’s press conference to attack Christian Horner, not to criticize Verstappen. “This between the drivers is between George and Max, and I don’t want to get involved in that,” Wolff said. “But if the other team manager calls George ‘hysterical’, this is where he crosses a line for me. Now, (Horner’s) forte, for sure, is not intellectual psychoanalysis, but that is a great word. How dare you? How dare you comment on my driver’s mood? Small barking terrier. “There is always something to say.”
If there’s a chance to bring in the Dutchman and plant one in Horner’s nose in the process, why not?
No, the real threat in this dispute is to Russell. If Wolff ever convinced Verstappen to join him, could Russell swallow his pride and work with a driver who has insulted him so badly? Who called her a “princess” and a “loser” and two-faced? Who so clearly thinks Russell is a teacher’s favorite?
Russell is not an idiot. With Wolff at his side, he gave a very diplomatic response.
“Things happen and people move on,” he said of whether he could ever work with Verstappen in the future. “We are adults and mature. Right now it’s not even something I’m thinking about. I never intended to throw Max under the bus like this until he came out and hit me so personally. So it’s not that I’m mad at Max. This is me just setting the record straight. “I’m not going to stand here watching a guy beat me personally, like he has done.”
But in practice? One imagines it would be very difficult for him if Verstappen joined. Meanwhile, next year’s drivers’ championship has just received an extra touch of kerosene.
The nine most memorable driver fights in F1
9. Verstappen against Russell
The rivalry between Max Verstappen and George Russell intensified after last weekend’s Qatar GP, where the newly crowned four-time world champion blamed Russell for a grid penalty. Both drivers have openly expressed their opinions about each other, setting the stage for an intense weekend.
8. Schumacher vs. Coulthard
The 1998 Belgian GP sparked a major rivalry when David Coulthard, after suffering damage and attempting to limp back to the pit lane, was hit from behind by Michael Schumacher while on the line. A furious Schumacher accused Coulthard of intentional recklessness, even claiming that Coulthard tried to kill him. The Scot flatly denied the accusation, but that did not stop the German from heading to the McLaren garage to strangle him later.
7. Hamilton vs. Rosberg
The rivalry with Mercedes stands out for the number of years it lasted. Both experienced drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, had intense battles throughout Mercedes’ dominance, which boiled over in 2016, when the pair crashed out of the Spanish GP and later that year, when they threw Pirelli caps at each other in the calm of the pilots. -Low room.
6. Schumacher vs. Hill
In a competitive rivalry, Schumacher won his first championship in 1994 at the expense of Damon Hill, who crashed when the German deliberately steered his damaged Benetton into the side of the Englishman’s Williams. It sparked a feud between the drivers that would continue for the next two seasons and provide major moments of drama.
5. Sen against Prost
The rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost is iconic, defined by fierce title battles, on-track showdowns and dramatic personal tensions. Their duels are among F1’s most memorable moments, with young upstart Senna upsetting the status quo by winning the 1988 title, before losing the 1989 crown when they crashed into each other at Suzuka. The Brazilian would return the favor the following year by taking them both out of the race at the first corner to ensure Prost couldn’t catch him.
4. Alonso against Hamilton
The rivalry between Hamilton and Fernando Alonso began in 2007, when they were teammates at McLaren. It was marked by the infamous ‘spygate’ scandal and a spectacular fight between the two championship rivals, with both losing the title to Kimi Raikkonen.
3. Hamilton against Verstappen
The end of the 2021 season, one of F1’s biggest battles, has gone down in history, and that is without taking into account the incidents in Silverstone, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Verstappen clinched his first title in one of F1’s biggest controversies, which led to race director Michael Masi losing his job and meant Hamilton lost the chance to become the sport’s first eight-time world champion.
2. Mansell against Piquet
Nigel Mansell accused his Williams teammate Nelson Piquet of undermining his championship aspirations, fueling a deep rift within the team that exploded in the media. “He has all the ingredients to be a great person, he just chooses not to be,” Mansell said of his more established colleague, who in turn responded: “Mansell is argumentative, he’s rude and he has a really ugly wife. “
1. Lauda v. Hunt
Playboy vs The Rat, as Hunt cruelly nicknamed Lauda, became a Hollywood blockbuster, such was the magnitude of the rivalry between the pair. Hunt pushed Lauda to the limit, both with his unprofessionalism in drinking, smoking and womanizing, and on the track where Lauda crashed at the Nurburgring in a race he did not want to participate in for safety reasons and which nearly killed him. In a bitter dispute, they earned each other’s respect, but in very different ways they took years off their life expectancy.
