The 2x World Champion Max Verstappen has made a career out of putting in gutsy moves and running wheel-to-wheel with other drivers. He’s fought drivers hard and dirty his entire career. However, he doesn’t like it if that happens the other way around – and that really showed during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. 

During the Azerbaijan sprint, George Russell engaged in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Verstappen scraping over third place. But in doing so, he made contact and left a large hole in Verstappen’s Red Bull sidepod, jeopardizing his race. After the race, George tried to explain that it was a racing incident, but Max was in no mood to hear it. Fuming with anger, Verstappen confronted Russell in the parc ferme and called him a ‘d**khead.’

Russell thought Verstappen’s comments were ‘unnecessary’, but remained cool at that time. Later, he defended his role in the incident, and insisted that he won’t ‘hold back just because he’s leading the championship’. The Englishman was resolute in his stance and stood by his decision to resist Verstappen’s overtaking attempt. At the same time, he mentioned that he has no hard feelings for the Dutchman. 

Speaking ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Russell said, as quoted by Speedcafe, “From my side, there’s no air to be cleared. I’ll welcome and say hello to him if he passes by; I’m sure we’ll shake hands when we bump into each other. For me, it’s history now and it’s behind us. My views to him are still the same; I still respect him, I still think he’s a great driver. Obviously, things are always said in the heat of the moment.”

Read More: After Max Verstappen’s “D*ckhead” Jibe, George Russell Comes Out Firing With a Warning of His Own: “I’m Not Going to Hold Back”

On the other hand, Verstappen said he was “absolutely fine” with Russell and did not feel the need to speak about the incident again. Is it fine though? Because soon after the Miami press conference, Russell had something new to say about the incident. 

“Spat his dummy out”: George Russell reignites the feud with Max Verstappen 

The wheel-to-wheel battle between Russell and Verstappen soon turned into a war of words. And mostly, Russell was on the receiving end of it. “There’s a lot of effs from his side,” Russell told the media. But the young Brit remained calm and maintained that he wasn’t obligated to hold back. However, he used much stronger words when asked about the incident in a Sky Sports interview. 

Speaking to Ted Kravitz, Russell said, “It was all a little bit pathetic. I think something you learn as a kid is if you’re going to give something you’ve got to be willing to take it as well. He’s had his fair share of giving moves like that and being tough and hard at racing and it’s a little bit poor to see how he sort of spat his dummy out when it was the first time he probably got something back in the same regard.”

But he also added: “We’ll have a chat, everything is fine, move on and I guess we’ll laugh about it one day.”

Watch this story: George Russell Sends a Feisty Response to Max Verstappen’s D**khead Jibe in Azerbaijan

What do you think about the ugly spat between Russell and Verstappen? Is Verstappen’s anger justified?