George Russell and Max Verstappen have not always been on the same page and bickered about multiple things both on and off the track. Some of their exchanges have been heated and tense, but a lot of times, they were just lighthearted jabs, which showed that they both knew how to have fun.
For instance, in Las Vegas last year, Verstappen brought Russell’s habit of being opinionated and joked about how he would be a great podcast host. Similarly, Russell had fun with the kind of sense of humor the Dutchman possessed.
During a segment with SportBible from last year, Russell was made to hear a radio exchange between Verstappen and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, which featured the Red Bull driver saying the exact phrase “Maybe, Godzilla had a kid.”
Russell was asked to guess who the person behind the microphone was, and he didn’t falter.
It was from an incident that took place in Singapore, wherein a monitor lizard was spotted on the track. Presumably, Verstappen had seen a bigger one in 2016 at the same track, which prompted him to quip about Godzilla having a kid, and Russell, in his first attempt, said, “I feel like that’s Red Bull banter. I can imagine that’s Max and GP.”
️ “Maybe Godzilla had a kid? I feel like that’s Red Bull banter!”
We challenged George Russell to guess ‘Who Said It’ from @F1 team radio messages across the season ️ @MercedesAMGF1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/BCbpHAKUct
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) June 28, 2024
However, Russell could not explain why he got the answer correct. It was a ‘Red Bull type of banter’, okay. But why did he think so? When the host further probed him about the same, he just awkwardly kept on laughing.
Will Russell and Verstappen forget their Qatar GP quarrel?
Russell’s dig at Verstappen and Red Bull’s sense of humor may have simply been a byproduct of their existing rivalry. After all, they have called each other various names and traded public insults over the years. While there have been attempts to broker a truce between them, they have yet to bury the hatchet.
It appears as though Russell is the one delaying the truce. Because Verstappen seemed open about wanting to reconcile, insisting that arguments in F1 are common between drivers battling at the highest level.
“I’m sure we’ll fix it again but it’s good to have a little break. It’s all going to work out again,” the Dutchman said at a fan event in the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
With still around six weeks remaining before the season properly kicks off in Australia, there is no guarantee that Russell and Verstappen’s feud will be resolved. Ideally, if the two drivers are not competing directly on track, their tensions may fade away easily.
However, if Red Bull and Mercedes are at a similar performance level, it will be difficult to avoid intense on-track battles between Russell and Verstappen. In such a scenario, all the baggage of past tensions could only amplify their feud, potentially turning it into a full-blown rivalry.
