[autotag]Max Verstappen[/autotag] and [autotag]George Russell[/autotag] are engaged in a media war. On Thursday morning, Russell spoke to the media and claimed that Verstappen threatened to intentionally wreck him at Qatar last week. The two drivers had an incident in qualifying that forced the four-time F1 champion to drop one place in the grid for the start of the event.
In response to Russell’s claims, Verstappen didn’t hold back and talked about the Mercedes driver to De Telegraaf. The war of words continued on Thursday morning, and the 2024 F1 champion is not happy.
“That’s not true; I didn’t say it like that,” Verstappen said. “[George Russell]’s exaggerating again. Do you know what I can’t stand? The way he attacks me unacceptably with the stewards and then acts like nothing happened the next day, patting me on the shoulder. I think, ‘Stay away from me.’ He invents all sorts of nonsense. With me, you always get the same: here, at home, with the stewards — I don’t change. You can’t say the same about everyone. But I’m not surprised by him.”
MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS THE QATAR GRAND PRIX!!
Expertly managed from the World Champion, who makes it two wins in three races! 👏👏#F1 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/KqMPFWAcbw
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 1, 2024
“George is a backstabber. The way he brings up all this nonsense — he’s just a loser. He lies and cobbles things together that don’t add up. I only voiced my opinion about his behavior with the stewards. Clearly, he couldn’t handle that. And his comments about 2021? That’s how he acted with the stewards, insinuating nonsense.”
This has been an all out back and forth, which has now spread into other members of the Red Bull and Mercedes camps. Verstappen and Russell have battled a lot on the race track in 2024, but this is the first time that it has truly boiled to this level. Verstappen and Russell’s rivalry is not going away and will only grow stronger going into the 2025 F1 season.
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