There is only one incident from the sprint race in Baku which is leading the headlines. We are obviously talking about the opening lap coming together of Max Verstappen and George Russell, which the former wasn’t too pleased with. Verstappen showcased his anger towards Russell post-race during Parc Ferme. However, following the outburst, the confrontation, and Verstappen’s explanation, the world of F1 is calling the Red Bull man a hypocrite. If there were doubts, a British F1 expert put it perfectly into words as well.
For both drivers, the post-sprint race interviews circled around the bust-up between the two. An innocent Russell was unaware of Verstappen’s confrontation mood. Whereas the Dutchman all but threatened the Mercedes man to “expect the same” in the future. This reaction from Verstappen was called out by journalist Will Buxton during the post-sprint race debrief, as seen on Twitter.
Buxton spoke for everyone when he said, “It’s a bit rich, isn’t it of himself? You know, Max Verstappen saying a driver’s taking some unnecessary risks. Max has made a career out of putting in gutsy moves, getting his elbows out. You know, getting down and dirty, running wheel to wheel with people. He’s fought drivers hard his entire career but he doesn’t like being raced hard himself. Particularly not when he’s fighting for a championship and I think that really showed today.”
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Buxton pointed out the reason Verstappen earned the “Mad Max” nickname. Despite the criticism, however, do not expect the Dutchman to be apologetic.
Max Verstappen rejects George Russell’s explanation while standing firm in his actions
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The Dutchman is not only garnering criticism for his actions. Additionally, fans and experts also believe Verstappen isn’t correct to pin all the blame on Russell. Despite that, the Dutchman is standing firm in his assessment of the situation while rejecting Russell’s explanation.
“I don’t understand why you need to take so much risk on lap one, understeer into my sidepod, create a hole. We all have cold tyres and it is easy to lock-up. His [Russell] beautiful way of explaining it. It doesn’t make sense,” confessed Verstappen to the media.
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Both drivers are correct in their own minds and according to the race control, it was a fair racing incident. What’ll be interesting to see is if Verstappen takes drastic actions during a race against Russell because of this incident. We all know the Dutchman likes to hold a grudge.