George Russell makes shocking claim about ‘bully’ Max Verstappen’s aggressive and violent threat
George Russell has taken his rivalry with Max Verstappen to a new level with explosive comments ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Speaking during Thursday media duties, Russell called the four-time world champion a ‘bully’ and revealed that he threatened to ‘Put me on my f***ing head in the wall’. Verstappen received a spicy retort after his earlier commentsGetty The retort comes after Verstappen said his Mercedes rival should ‘f*** off’ and called out his behaviour as the pair clashed over a qualifying incident that resulted in a penalty for the Dutchman. In his response, Russell set the rivalry alight by saying: “I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘Put me on my f***ing head in the wall’. “So to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it. “People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity. “Whenever anything has gone against him — Jeddah ’21, Brazil ’21 — he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team … As I said, for me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary. “Because what happens on track, we fight hard, that’s part of racing. What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal. But he’s taken it too far now.” Adding more context, he continued: “[It was] to me privately, yeah, straight out of the stewards “He said, ‘I don’t know why you would want to screw me like this, I’m so disappointed in you. I was going to not even race you tomorrow, I was going to let you by, but now if I have to, I will purposely go out of my way to put you on your f***ing head in the wall.’ So, I mean… as I said, I don’t understand why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that regard.” The conflict came over a one-place grid drop Verstappen received for Sunday’s feature race in Qatar as he was deemed to have driven unnecessarily slowly, impeding Russell’s lap. That allowed the Brit, who qualified second, to leapfrog his rival to pole position. Verstappen would go on to win the Grand Prix, and attack Russell post-race in multiple interviews. It’s fair to say that things are getting intense between the pair.Getty The Dutchman essentially called Russell two-faced, saying he “Does it very nicely here in front of the camera, but then when you’re inside with him in person, it’s just a different person.” Verstappen was specifically alleging that Russell insisted on giving him a penalty in the FIA stewarding room, but the Brit thinks taking that conversation out from behind closed doors is going too far. “I honestly just want to set the record straight, to be honest. Because it’s just a total double standard that he has for the regulations, and just thinking that he is above everybody else,” Russell said. “So it’s not me trying to assert my leadership style or anything. It’s just somebody has come out and said that I’m a two-faced motherf*****, and he’s entitled to his own opinions. “But coming out and saying that publicly, and slamming me publicly, as I say, I’m just not going to accept it, and I’m going to tell people what the reality was.” Russell then went on to address Verstappen’s controversial driving style. F1Verstappen was roundly panned in Mexico for pushing Norris off track twice, and new rules have since been implemented[/caption] F1Russell also referenced a divebomb on Hamilton that went awry this season[/caption] Like any driver, the 27-year-old has had multiple clashes over the years, but incidents in 2024 with Lando Norris have highlighted a discrepancy over the rules. Clashes in Austin and Mexico led the rest of the grid complaining about his driving style, and new regulations regarding overtaking were then implemented from Qatar onwards. Addressing that controversy, Russell believes the reigning champion gets preferential treatment from stewards, saying: “He pushes himself to the absolute limit week in, week out, and that is in 95 per cent of the scenarios, is incredible to see. And I respect him for that 95 per cent. “But there have been incidents that have gone unpunished. Maybe that is why he thinks he can get away with murder. But that is not the world we live in, and actions have consequences. “I’m not taking it anyway, to be honest. I’ll let you come to those assessments. You know, it can just keep going on like that.” To add even more fuel to an already rampaging fire, Russell then addressed the controversy over allegations made about Red Bull team principal and CEO Christian Horner at the start of the season. Horner was accused of sexual misconduct by a female employee, accusations which
George Russell has taken his rivalry with Max Verstappen to a new level with explosive comments ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking during Thursday media duties, Russell called the four-time world champion a ‘bully’ and revealed that he threatened to ‘Put me on my f***ing head in the wall’.
The retort comes after Verstappen said his Mercedes rival should ‘f*** off’ and called out his behaviour as the pair clashed over a qualifying incident that resulted in a penalty for the Dutchman.
In his response, Russell set the rivalry alight by saying: “I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘Put me on my f***ing head in the wall’.
“So to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it.
“People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity.
“Whenever anything has gone against him — Jeddah ’21, Brazil ’21 — he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team … As I said, for me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary.
“Because what happens on track, we fight hard, that’s part of racing. What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal. But he’s taken it too far now.”
Adding more context, he continued: “[It was] to me privately, yeah, straight out of the stewards
“He said, ‘I don’t know why you would want to screw me like this, I’m so disappointed in you. I was going to not even race you tomorrow, I was going to let you by, but now if I have to, I will purposely go out of my way to put you on your f***ing head in the wall.’ So, I mean… as I said, I don’t understand why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that regard.”
The conflict came over a one-place grid drop Verstappen received for Sunday’s feature race in Qatar as he was deemed to have driven unnecessarily slowly, impeding Russell’s lap.
That allowed the Brit, who qualified second, to leapfrog his rival to pole position. Verstappen would go on to win the Grand Prix, and attack Russell post-race in multiple interviews.
The Dutchman essentially called Russell two-faced, saying he “Does it very nicely here in front of the camera, but then when you’re inside with him in person, it’s just a different person.”
Verstappen was specifically alleging that Russell insisted on giving him a penalty in the FIA stewarding room, but the Brit thinks taking that conversation out from behind closed doors is going too far.
“I honestly just want to set the record straight, to be honest. Because it’s just a total double standard that he has for the regulations, and just thinking that he is above everybody else,” Russell said.
“So it’s not me trying to assert my leadership style or anything. It’s just somebody has come out and said that I’m a two-faced motherf*****, and he’s entitled to his own opinions.
“But coming out and saying that publicly, and slamming me publicly, as I say, I’m just not going to accept it, and I’m going to tell people what the reality was.”
Russell then went on to address Verstappen’s controversial driving style.
Like any driver, the 27-year-old has had multiple clashes over the years, but incidents in 2024 with Lando Norris have highlighted a discrepancy over the rules.
Clashes in Austin and Mexico led the rest of the grid complaining about his driving style, and new regulations regarding overtaking were then implemented from Qatar onwards.
Addressing that controversy, Russell believes the reigning champion gets preferential treatment from stewards, saying: “He pushes himself to the absolute limit week in, week out, and that is in 95 per cent of the scenarios, is incredible to see. And I respect him for that 95 per cent.
“But there have been incidents that have gone unpunished. Maybe that is why he thinks he can get away with murder. But that is not the world we live in, and actions have consequences.
“I’m not taking it anyway, to be honest. I’ll let you come to those assessments. You know, it can just keep going on like that.”
To add even more fuel to an already rampaging fire, Russell then addressed the controversy over allegations made about Red Bull team principal and CEO Christian Horner at the start of the season.
Horner was accused of sexual misconduct by a female employee, accusations which he denies, and he was cleared of by an internal investigation.
However, the BBC insists that the fiasco led to the departure of the greatest car designer in F1 history, Adrian Newey, while fellow CEOs Toto Wolff and Zak Brown said they were being inundated with Red Bull CVs.
Russell added to that, saying: “For me, it’s interesting, this whole regard with him and his own team.
“They’re doing their utmost to get Horner out of Red Bull, but at the very first race that he wasn’t competitive, [Verstappen] was absolutely slamming his team, and I know for a fact the week after, a quarter of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston Martin.
“So I don’t respect somebody who doesn’t appreciate those who have given him the chance to perform, because these last 12 races, he has had a car that is of normal competitiveness, and he’s been in the fight the same way as myself, Lewis [Hamilton], Charles [Leclerc], Carlos [Sainz], Lando and [Oscar] Piastri have been. That’s how it should be.
“Again, I feel like we all need to lead by example here. He’s the biggest, most successful guy in the sport for the last couple of years. He can do what he wants in his own business, but when he starts throwing comments around like he did on Sunday night about me, I’m not just going to sit there and accept it.”
Neighbours in Monaco, Russell and Verstappen are known to enjoy a game of padel with each other and fellow competitors Norris and Alex Albon.
However, this isn’t the first time they’ve clashed, with Verstappen calling Russell a d***head after a tangle at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
