Furious Max Verstappen, who branded George Russell a “whorehead”, said it was “hard not to bash the Red Bull car for them” as the Dutchman clashed with Lewis Hamilton yesterday.
But in Saturday’s sprint race in Azerbaijan it was teammate Russell who Verstappen ran wheel-to-wheel, the two colliding at Turn 2 with a hole ripped through the bodywork of the RB19’s Verstappen.
Their battle continued into Turn 3 with Verstappen bouncing off the wall as Russell made the stuck pass.
Verstappen took the lead after a safety car restart, prompting the Red Bull pit wall to comment “no contact too, well done”.
But despite beating Russell to the line, the reigning world champion was still fuming after the race and confronted Russell, calling him a “bastard” in the process.
He was still unwell when he sat down for the post-sprint press conference.
Asked if he thought he had left enough room for Russell during their fight, Verstappen replied: “I think so. I mean, we definitely went through the corner without him hitting the inside barrier. So I think I left enough space.
But I think, apparently, it’s hard not to knock that Red Bull car, I guess. For them.”
Pressed on whether he had had a problem with Russell in the past given his harsh “d**khead” comment, Verstappen said: “No, we didn’t really have any problems before now.”
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“George pushes him too hard against the wall”
As expected, team bosses Verstappen and Russell intervened, with Christian Horner and Toto Wolff backing their own drivers in the clash.
“From what I’ve seen,” Horner told Sky Sports, “The first turn I could live with, Turn Two was a tough race between two tough drivers. The part that for me felt a bit over the top it was the third shift.
“In the second lap, George is trying to leave enough space, but it’s a very tight corner and that’s where the sidepod damage was done.
“At the next corner, George pushes him too hard into the wall. Unfortunately, the result was quite a bit of bodywork damage and that cost him quite a bit of performance.
“When you see a hole like this it has to be at least three quarters of a second per lap, maybe more.
“The best thing is that Max has another chance tomorrow and starts on the front row. He was understandably upset and gave his opinion to George. You can understand that, he’s a competitive driver and when you have damage to your car and it affects your race, he’d be disappointed if he was happy with that.
“Max is like an elephant and he’s going to bank it for a while. He did a great job on the restart to get past George and he was able to hang on to Charles. It was obviously a big handicap for him to handle.”
“Max runs with Lewis differently”
However, on Wolff’s part it was a “race” and a “friendly exchange between drivers”.
“You know, I think Max races with Lewis in a different way,” said the Mercedes engine boss. “But between drivers of the same generation? They are all fierce. But it has always been, they know each other.
“They had this situation, probably the first time when they were 10 years old.
“So it’s a race. I don’t know if it’s 70/30, 60/40 or 50/50, but it’s going to be in this stadium…
“The friendly exchanges between drivers are a good entertainment factor. So irrelevant. And yes, this is a career situation.
“You’re testing the outside. It’s never going to be an easy position. They crashed here to get the car cold, and that’s not optimal for your race.
“It is absolutely understandable that he is upset on the other side. George defended the position. And that’s also clear that they will.”
