The dominant team in the Formula One competition remains to be Red Bull, as evidenced by Sergio Pérez’s first-place finish and Max Verstappen’s third-place finish in the sprint at Baku. Despite this, Verstappen was clearly upset when Russell crashed into his car, causing a gaping hole in the side pod and significantly diminishing his chances of securing second place from Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.
In response, Verstappen confronted Russell in the pit lane calling him d***head, and made it clear that he would not hesitate to be equally assertive in future races when competing against him, following their collision on the very first lap.
Why did Max Verstappen call George Russell “d*** head” during Azerbaijan GP?
During the race, Max Verstappen found himself in a frustrating and potentially dangerous situation. A Mercedes driver passed him on the inside at Turn 2, resulting in contact that nearly caused Verstappen to crash into the wall. The aftermath of the collision revealed that Verstappen’s car had sustained damage to its sidepod.
Throughout the remainder of the race, Verstappen communicated his anger and annoyance about the incident to his team at Red Bull via radio. At one point, he even expressed his confusion about how the other driver could have caused damage to his car and yet still maintain their position.
After the conclusion of the sprint race, Russell made his way to Verstappen and explained that he had not intended to cause the incident. He shared that he had lost grip and locked up, leading to the unfortunate outcome.
In response, Verstappen calmly pointed out that they had all faced similar challenges on the track and that leaving some space was necessary to avoid such incidents. As Russell began to walk away, he was caught off guard when Verstappen called him a d***head and went on to warn him to brace himself for similar behaviour in the future.
What does George Russell think about Max Verstappen’s remarks?
Russell defended his decision after the race and stated that the outcome would have been the same even if they had switched positions. He expressed surprise at his teammate’s level of anger and emphasized that attempting to overtake someone on the outside carries the risk of the person on the inside running into you. Russell believes that if their positions had been reversed, the outcome would have remained the same, and everyone made it through in one piece.
Russel in an interview went on to say while defending himself, “I was down the inside and as a driver you know the risk is when you are on the outside. I’m there to win and I’m not going to hold back just because he is leading the championship. I was quite surprised he was still trying to hold it around the outside, it’s a street circuit, he’s got a lot more to lose than I have. None of the contacts was intentional, I was doing my best to have a clean fight, but I was quite surprised that he was kind of resistant. I was on the inside.”
What do you think about this incident? And let us know who you think was right in this situation in the comment section down below.
