Latest on Max Verstappen and George Russell's F1 feud

Formula 1 has grown accustomed to the occasional driver spat and there's no denying that the sport thrives off such conflict.

In years gone by, we've witnessed seismic arguments between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, along with Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen.

A common theme among the aforementioned trio is that their respective rows all erupted amidst the pressures of competing for a world title, which is why F1's latest feud is quite unique.

After Max Verstappen was crowned champion for a fourth successive year, an unexpected squabble with George Russell at the penultimate Grand Prix of the season escalated into a blazing altercation in which neither driver was afraid to express their true feelings about one another.

The situation was further exacerbated when Russell, the last to arrive at the annual end-of-season dinner, chose to move away from Verstappen, moving his chair to the other side of the table.

Both drivers attempted to diffuse the feud at F175 Live, with Verstappen stating he has no intention of "continuing any beef." However, Russell's suggestion that he will continue to stand up for himself indicates that the flame has not been entirely extinguished.

We've explored the feud between Verstappen and Russell to assess how it started, what has been said, and what the future holds.

How did it start?

The commotion between Verstappen and Russell started publicly in the aftermath of the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix where an irate Verstappen insisted he'd "lost all respect" for Russell, before adding: "I've never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard."

That comment from the Red Bull star came after the pair were sent to the stewards' room for an incident during qualifying where Verstappen was driving unnecessarily slowly, impeding Russell on his out lap.

Verstappen was awarded a one-place grid penalty which saw him relinquish pole position to Russell.

What nobody anticipated, however, was the war of words that followed.

Russell subsequently claimed Verstappen threatened to "purposefully go out of his way to crash into me", while Verstappen responded by labelling the Mercedes driver as a "backstabber" and a "loser".

There had been disagreements between the pair long before the events of Qatar. A crash in the sprint race at Baku in 2023 prompted Verstappen to call Russell "Princess George", although the minor skirmish was soon brushed under the carpet.

In the weeks leading up to the Qatar Grand Prix, Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, is spearing an overhaul of the FIA's rules governing racing, which came to light following Verstappen's aggressive manoeuvres against title rival Lando Norris at the US and Mexico Grands Prix.

In the aftermath of Verstappen receiving two penalties for two separate erratic moves on Norris, Russell inadvertently stoked the fire by publicly stating: "Lewis is the champion I aspire to be - hard but fair, never beyond the line."

What's been said

What has Max Verstappen said about George Russell?

From a backstabber to loser, Princess George to a d*******, Verstappen hasn't restrained from revealing his honest thoughts about Russell over the years.

Following Qatar, Verstappen went public with his grievances of the British driver when quizzed about his apparent crash threat, stating: "That's already not correct. But you know, those things don't surprise me.

"I just give my opinion about how he is. Of course, he's not happy with it, but it's the same thing he did at the stewards. Lying and putting things together that aren't correct.

"He's a backstabber. It doesn't matter to me. You don't have to talk too much about people like that, they are just losers.

"We had the last laugh because in the end, we won that race. They may have started on pole thanks to their nitpicking at the stewards, but 300 metres later they were behind us again."

Rewinding back to the incident in the Azerbaijan sprint in 2023, Verstappen said: "(Defending) is not allowed because princess George is there? At the end of the day, that's his problem too.

"It was just a bit clumsy. (Mercedes) are a lot slower and the risk of both killing our race is greater. It doesn't really get you anywhere, even if you pass me."

What has George Russell said about Max Verstappen?

Russell hasn't minced his words about Verstappen either and the Norfolk racer accused the four-time world champion of "bullying" his fellow drivers.

Responding to Verstappen's two-faced claims in Qatar, Russell told the media: "I find it all quite ironic considering that on Saturday night he said he was purposely going to go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, ‘put me on my f****** head in the wall’. So, to question somebody’s integrity as a person while saying comments like that the day before, I think is very ironic and I’m not going to sit here and accept it.

“People have been bullied by Max for years now. You can’t question his driving ability but he cannot deal with adversity. When anything has gone against him – Jeddah ‘21, Brazil ’21 – he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team.

“I know for a fact the week after, a quarter of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston.

“We fight hard on track, we fight hard in the stewards room. It’s part of racing. But it’s never personal. He’s taken it too far," Russell added.

“We’ve got a guy on the top of this sport who feels he’s above the law and I don’t think that’s right. I admire his on-track battles and when he’s hard and aggressive. But what we saw at the end of the season in ’21 and what we saw with Lando [in Mexico]; they weren’t hard aggressive manoeuvres, they were do or dies — ‘I’m willing to take this guy out’. I don’t think that’s the way we should go racing.”

At the F175 event, Russell suggested both he and Verstappen hadn't spoken during the winter break, nor did he have any intention of doing so in the future.

"That happened last year," Russell said. "I want to focus on myself. Things got out of line last year. That was then. We are not going to go back to being best mates, that's for sure."