In a dramatic turn of events, Max Verstappen and George Russell came to face-t0-face after the Azerbaijan GP. A now viral moment, the two drivers talked smack before engaging in a full-blown media war. While Lewis Hamilton is yet to provide his two cents, his brother Nicolas Hamilton spoke up.
After a first-lap incident, Verstappen was forced to drag an injured RB19 across the finish line during Saturday’s Sprint race. Despite the damage, Verstappen finished third with some crucial points in the bag- something Russell used against him.
Calling the Mercedes man a d*ckhead, apart from more expletives thrown on track, Verstappen was vengeful. F1 had posted the two driver’s post-race interviews, which featured an intense debate between each other. After analyzing these arguments, Nicolas Hamilton had a few words of his own.
Max Verstappen-George Russell fight gets Hamilton’s perspective
Nicolas Hamilton heard the arguments provided by both parties and stated: “Was just racing in my eyes.” Surely, this would only make Verstappen’s blood boil.
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George Russell had claimed to be surprised this whole thing was a problem in the first place. “I thought he was coming over to say good battle, nice fight.”
He also hilariously added that his helmet protected him from most of the bad-mouthing. “A lot of f—s, and what the f—. I didn’t really hear much more than that.”
Happy with P4. We’re here to race and give it everything and that’s what we did. Time to move on. 👍 pic.twitter.com/gpSVLVhTmA
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) April 29, 2023
Verstappen was still seething after the events of the race, refusing to let his rival off the hook. “You need two guys to work together to make the corner.”
Toto Wolff agrees with Hamilton in hot-take
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff concedes that Verstappen’s feelings are understandable, given the intense competition and high stakes of F1. However, he draws a clear distinction between how Verstappen conducts himself on the track and how his drivers attack a situation.
Overall, he remained neutral on the entire situation. “You know, I think Max races Lewis differently. But between the same generation drivers? They are all fierce. But it’s always been, they know each other.”
Well, we scored some good points @redbullracing 👊 For the rest, it is what it is. We focus on tomorrow's race 🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/wmbdTVdJz8
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 29, 2023
Providing insight into the contact made, Wolff shares the same opinion as Nicolas. “It’s racing. I don’t know if it’s 70/30, 60/40 or 50/50, but it’s going to be in that ballpark… Friendly exchanges between drivers is a good entertainment factor. So irrelevant. And yes, that’s a race situation.”
Opportunity for another round of this on-track battle is limited as Russell will start Sunday’s race a few notches behind Verstappen in P11. However, this is a debate that will live on for the next few weekends, as the opinions soon start pouring in.
