George Russell reveals getting tons of Dutch emails after 'word war' with Verstappen

Mercedes F1 driver George Russell has now revealed that he has received tons of Dutch emails, most of which were abusive, after starting a feud with Max Verstappen at the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix. The two young drivers went for a war of words after the qualifying. George Russell was quicker than Max Verstappen all weekend and secured a podium at the sprint race. But in the main race, Verstappen showed lightning speed, came out of nowhere and clinched the pole position. But in doing so, he came in between George Russell's pole lap and the British driver was unhappy with it.

Max Verstappen was in his slow-down lap and Russell gave one last try to clinch the pole. But while on his fast lap, he saw Verstappen going slow on the race line and he had to respond within a millisecond, as it could have been a big accident. Russell finished second and felt he had lost some milliseconds evading Verstappen.

After the race, he raised the issue with the F1 stewards and they punished Verstappen with a 1-place grid penalty. Verstappen was very angry at George as he said Max did that intentionally to spoil his pole lap. Both the drivers engaged in a word war with some discrete comments and went for the main race. 

Russell lost his pole position during the start and Max Verstappen won the race. After the race, Max said he had lost all respect for George Russell and called him two-faced. The British driver didn't hold and gave it back during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, accusing Max Verstappen of bullying and threatening him about intentionally causing an accident. 

The other F1 drivers on the grid tried to settle the beef during the driver's dinner in Abu Dhabi, but George refused to sit beside Verstappen and went far away and sat with Lewis Hamilton. This year many fans are expecting a Max vs. George battle in many races. Formula 1 is launching all its drivers and teams at the London O2 arena during the F1 75 event. Russell had a small interview before that and revealed the consequences he faced after starting a feud with Verstappen.

George Russell on Dutch emails

Russell said, “I have got to be honest, I didn't see any of it myself, but I do know there was a lot of criticism out there. " I know members of my team were receiving emails from Dutch fans. But I think that's a part of sport and life, really, isn't it." He laughed and said, “So I just have this view and mentality that even with the positive comments, does it actually make me drive faster? Probably not, and there are more negative than positive most of the time, so I do really try and avoid it.”

Also Read: F1 75 Live: Everything you need to know about the historic event at London’s O2 arena.