The primary clue that one thing sensational was within the offing was the jam-packed hospitality unit, with barely an area to face. The second clue was the Netflix microphone, hovering conspicuously over an incensed , as he launched grenade after grenade.
And the third? , getting into stage left, two minutes into a rare 14-minute media session for the written press on Thursday, on the season-concluding race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
had upped the ante just a few hours earlier, accusing Russell of to the stewards of their week-long squabble over a finally weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.
The pair – who’ve by no means actually been cordial, no matter any padel matches infer – had been already at daggers drawn, with Verstappen telling the Brit to in Doha and Russell responding on Thursday morning, telling just a few choose shops that the Dutchman threatened to place his
Each query, bar one, was about this feud. A feud that has reignited the longstanding quarrel between and Toto Wolff too and, in consequence, and Mercedes.
Three years on from the , it was like 2021 over again.
Russell didn’t want a second invitation at the beginning: “It’s humorous as a result of even earlier than I mentioned a phrase within the stewards, he was swearing on the stewards – he was so offended earlier than I’d ever spoken.
“I have no idea why he felt the necessity for this private assault. I’m not going to take it.”
Enter Wolff, in a navy blue polo shirt, standing subsequent to his driver in solidarity and with the air of a person defending his son within the headmaster’s workplace. For an extended whereas, he simply stood there; his presence was a press release in itself.
Russell then proceeded to reward his outgoing Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton – whose highlight was stolen on media day for the Silver Arrows – and say his compatriot was the “world champion I aspire to be like.”
He additionally known as out Verstappen’s behaviour previously, relationship again to their days in go-karts at 14 years of age, and speculated that 25% of Purple Bull engineers utilized for jobs at rival groups after the Dutchman’s in Hungary in July.
However the greatest shot thrown, not less than to Verstappen, was to that contentious finale in 2021: “May you think about if the roles had been reversed and Max dropping that championship within the method Lewis misplaced that championship?
“[Michael] Masi (ex-F1 race director) can be fearing for his life.”
Then Wolff had his say, accusing Horner of being a “weak” crew principal for not downplaying Verstappen’s feedback final week. He : “How can he really feel entitled to remark about my driver? Having spent 90 seconds to consider it… [he’s a] yapping little terrier. At all times one thing to say.”
This got here after Horner within the stewards’ room – through which Purple Bull opined that the Brit did every part potential to get his rival penalised – as “hysterical.”
The session completed on Wolff’s phrases, because the Austrian said: “How dare you touch upon the way of thinking of my driver?”
For what it’s price, Verstappen had the ultimate say, telling the Dutch media a couple of minutes later that Russell is a and a “loser.”
For Drive to Survive, filming all of it, it was dream content material. For the remainder of us watching, eyebrows raised, it was terrific needle in a sport which is at its finest when two groups are combating hammer and tong on the tarmac and within the press room.
Ought to each drivers be in line for a championship nip-and-tuck in 2025, it is going to make for a humdinger of a season however extra instantly comes this weekend in Abu Dhabi. A season finale the place it’s really McLaren and Ferrari , not Mercedes and Purple Bull.
However that’s not the lead now. Neither is it Hamilton’s Mercedes farewell. All eyes at the moment are on Saturday’s qualifying session the place, ought to Russell and Verstappen end within the prime three, the pair will probably be side-by-side within the press convention room. And if that materialises, standing room solely.
