Red Bull F1 star offers fresh TWIST in Max Verstappen George Russell feud

George Russell and Max Verstappen — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Red Bull star offers fresh TWIST in Verstappen Russell feud

Max Verstappen and George Russell had a public falling out at the end of 2024

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 23 December 2024 13:08 Updated: 20:39

A Red Bull star has offered a fresh twist in Max Verstappen and George Russell’s ongoing Formula 1 feud.

The Mercedes and Red Bull stars initially came to blows at the Qatar Grand Prix, after Verstappen received a one-place grid drop for driving under the minimum lap time set by the race director.

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The incident was noted by Russell, who approached the slowly moving Verstappen at full speed and allegedly campaigned for the penalty.

As a result, Verstappen took to the press to slam Russell for being ‘two-faced’ in an astonishing post-race rant concerning his Mercedes rival.

Max Verstappen was eventually victorious in Qatar

Max Verstappen and George Russell have been involved in a fiery exchange

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However, Russell retaliated at the Abu Dhabi GP, where he accused Verstappen of being a bully and that Verstappen allegedly threatened to “put his f***ing head in the wall” before the race in Qatar.

In a recent appearance on the Pitstop podcast, Red Bull-bound driver Liam Lawson revealed a fresh twist in the feud saga which occurred during the end of season drivers’ dinner in Abu Dhabi.

"It's crazy how many messages I've had about this, people are really curious. I'll tell you, then we can decide [what] to put in [the podcast], because this is f*****g funny," Lawson said.

The F1 grid got together for an end of season dinner in Abu Dhabi

"So we rock up, we're at this big table, me and Yuki [Tsunoda] got there together. But as the table was filling up, that side of the table was pretty much all full. Opposite me was Max, and then there was, like, three chairs to the left at this end of the table, and George hadn't arrived yet. So we were like, 'This is perfect, we're just going to save that spot right next to Max for him.'

"Then George arrived, and we were all like, 'Hey!' and greeted him. Then Max said, 'Mate, we've saved a seat for you.' And George just picks up the chair and walks to the other side of the table with Lewis at the other end of the table. We were all like, 'Oh my god.' We thought this was going to be funny, but it wasn't funny. Well, kind of funny for us."

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Mercedes George Russell Qatar Grand Prix