Many unusual things are happening in this year's Formula 1 season. The happiest people will be ‘Netflix’ as they have enough Masala and drama content for their ‘Drive to Survive’ Season 7 show. We already saw Lando Norris vs Max Verstappen war which ended with many controversies.
But now out of nowhere, we ended up with Max vs George Russell after the Qatar Grand prix. It all started with the Qualifying session after the Sprint race. Max Verstappen was very slow during the Sprint race but he surprised everyone by setting the fastest lap time during the Qualifying session. George Russell was the second-fastest driver and he thought of giving it one more try in the final few minutes of the session and went on a flying lap.
OMG???? the fight is really THAT BIG then what- pic.twitter.com/3HBNu7Q9Ic
— clara (@leclercsletters) December 1, 2024
The Red Bull driver had just completed his run and was on a slowdown lap to the garage. George Russell was on complete pace and suddenly saw Max Verstappen on the racing line and escaped a big crash. He could have lost some time there, and he finished second after the session.
The drama unfolded after the post-qualifying press meet. Max Verstappen was called on by the stewards after Mercedes raised the issue with FIA. There George Russell seemed to have argued with the stewards and finally succeeded in getting 1 place grid penalty for Max. Max started the race in P2 and George Russell was promoted to P1. But on the opening lap of the race Verstappen went on aggressive with George at the first corner and got back his position which he lost in penalty.
Max about George: "I've been in the meeting room [stewards] many times in my career, I've never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard, and then I lost all the respect."pic.twitter.com/97ot3Iuczm
— Verstappen News (@verstappenews) December 1, 2024
After the race, Max Verstappen lashed out at George Russell for all his drama before the stewards and said he lost respect. The four-time world champion said, “I’ve been in the meeting room (Stewards room) many times in my career, I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard, and then I lost all the respect.”
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Max pointed out that George was acting before the media like a good and polite person but personally a completely different person. And he can't stand that. Russell also got a 5-second penalty after the race which cost him race position and Red Bull boss Christian Horner called that ‘Karma’.
George Russell also hit back at Max Verstappen for giving excuses after making mistakes. The British driver is still sticking to his point of saying “Max Verstappen drove unnecessarily slow and created a risky situation and they could damage the race even before the start.”
Also Read: Formula 1 driver kicked out of the team before the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP.
Fans arrive at the battleground.
Uh ohhhhh. Nice! #MaxVerstappen wipes the floor with two-faced #GeorgeRussell. "I've never seen a driver try to screw over another driver like this... I've lost all respect." https://t.co/9WnFRoiPQQ
— Michael van der Galien (@MichaelvdGalien) December 1, 2024
Horner calling George hysterical while Max and some of his supporters are throwing a hissy fit, time for a nap I think
— 𝚈𝚊𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚎 🍉 (@DitDoetFangirl) December 2, 2024
All year those fans was bashing George and now they’re all supporting him because Verstappen might have done something 😂😂 pick a struggle
— F1 Jayy (@jctrxx) November 30, 2024
I really can't believe that smarty pants George decided to pick a fight with Max "I don't have anything to lose, I'm already the world champion" Verstappen. You don't want a Messi, a Ronaldo... to be against you regardless of your talent. https://t.co/jlrIE7m0iI
— Alvaro Videla (@old_sound) December 1, 2024
really funny is that fans of other drivers act like getting max pissed off is actually something to gloat about. omg the headloss!!!!! george was the one who was so sure that he was going to get pole and when he didn't decided to invent a penalty for max 😭
— mary (@luckysstrikes) December 2, 2024
But as far as fans are concerned they are divided about the two drivers. Some people say instead of being fake to the cameras it is very nice to speak the truth like Max verstappen. Some other fans are behind George Russell and they feel Max verstappen deserved the punishment and this is the first time a driver has confronted his own mistakes before him and Max can't digest that fact.
ALSO WATCH: Max Verstappen claims to have lost all respect for George Russell