9xLe Mans Winner Blames Both Max Verstappen and George Russell for Qatar Fiasco

Max Verstappen did not stay out of the headlines for long, even after securing his fourth World Championship with two races to spare. In the penultimate race of 2024 in Qatar, he became embroiled in a war of words with George Russell after being handed a one-place grid penalty, which cost him his pole position due to Russell’s protests.

Verstappen won the race, but afterward claimed to have lost all respect for Russell, who he insisted went out of his way to make sure he got penalized. Verstappen called Russell ‘two-faced’ in a rather unnecessary exchange, only to be labeled a bully by the Mercedes driver.

A nine-time Le Mans winner, Tom Kristensen has now come on record to lambast the duo for crossing all limits. “They both exaggerated. I would have liked Max to have told him after Qatar that he had beaten him in the race, that he was the one who had won. I shouldn’t have said anything else,” he told F1 Maximaal.

“It’s both of their fault in my opinion. It was a little too much. Sometimes you can refuse to answer and leave, but it got out of hand. I think the two have made mistakes, but no one accepts a mistake in Formula 1,” he added.

The squabbling between the two drivers extended well into the final race of the season. However, it wasn’t just the drivers exchanging jabs in the media; their respective team principals also entered the fray.

Russell and Verstappen made a joke of themselves

No driver directly made a comment on the Verstappen-Russell fiasco but seemed to enjoy themselves heading into the Abu Dhabi GP. Traditionally, all drivers gather for a dinner to mark the end of the season, and in 2024, Russell was the last one to arrive.

Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, who was an RB driver in 2024, revealed that the other 18 drivers had intentionally left the seat next to Verstappen empty, either to allow Russell to sit there and sort things out or simply because they knew how uncomfortable things could get between the two.

However, the #63 driver wasn’t having any of it. Upon arriving at the venue, he picked up the empty chair and placed it next to where Lewis Hamilton was sitting. Everyone noticed, surprised by how Russell refused to bury the hatchet then and there.

Later that weekend, they posed together for a Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) photo, with Verstappen assuring that the dispute wouldn’t last much longer. Hopefully, they can resolve their differences before the new season kicks off in February.