George Russell Terms Spielberg ‘Meh’ Because of Bad Blood With Fierce Rivals

Sabyasachi Biswas | 16/05/2023
George Russell Terms Spielberg ‘Meh’ Because of Bad Blood With Fierce Rivals

In an extraordinary show of rivalry, George Russell has put the Austrian F1 track into the worst possible category. The Austrian track, that’s also known as the Red Bull Ring, has failed to impress Russell, as he ‘dumped’ the track in the ‘meh’ category.

As per a resurfaced video on Instagram, the Mercedes driver was seen dividing the tracks categorically. Among many other tracks on the list, when the time for Spielberg arrived, the Briton didn’t think twice to put it into the last category.

 

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Speaking about it as seen in the video, Russell said when he recognized the Red Bull Ring, “I mean, just for the name it’s gonna go in the ‘meh’ column. Hasn’t it, so we’ll put that in the ‘meh’ column.” Notably, the category had four columns, Top-tier, Great, Solid, and Meh.

This showed as a Mercedes driver, how much he likes to take digs at their fierce rival Ferrari. Furthermore, the action by Russell not only made the fans call out the former Williams driver’s salty take on Red Bull but also called him a ‘Mercedes simp’ for his outlandish efforts.

Russell’s recent digs at Red Bull

This wasn’t the first time the British driver took digs at his team’s eternal rival. From the day he joined the Silver Arrows, it seems he has been getting ready in his shining armor to attack the Austrian team.

Apart from alleging the Milton-Keynes-based sandbagging early in the season, the 25-year-old also said that the advantage Red Bull has in F1 currently is a bit shameful for the sport.

However, the most interesting part was his face-off with defending champion Max Verstappen in Azerbaijan. After he made contact with the Dutchman in Baku, Russell and Verstappen went on to have a series of hits at each other.

Why Russell holds Red Bull as a fierce rival?

Traditionally, the rivalry between Red Bull and Mercedes hasn’t been a top-rated one until recent times. It was nowhere on the same level as Ferrari vs McLaren or Williams vs Ferrari.

But, in the last decade, the rivalry between the Austrian and their German counterpart has reached the ultimate level, with 2021 being a boiling point. This has come after the balance of F1 power and dominance has shifted from Red Bull to Mercedes and vice versa.

Given how the current situation is, Red Bull is still regarded as the main rival of Mercedes, over Aston Martin or Ferrari as they have been the most dominant team from 2014-2020.

Furthermore, Russell and Verstappen belong to the same age group, and having a rival of the same batch, further fuels the fire. Admittedly, with the right car, George Russell can pose a serious title threat to Verstappen and hence, there’s a different sense of inbuilt rivalry in the Mercedes star over Red Bull.

Post Edited By: Samriddhi Jaiswal

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.