It was when Toto Wolff strode in, early during George Russell’s extraordinary press conference in Mercedes’ paddock home, that this already mad day truly jumped the shark.
The Mercedes F1 team principal does not habitually rock up to press conferences on a Thursday afternoon; this being the day the 20 drivers are made available. In fact, Wolff’s presence on a Thursday was pretty much unprecedented. But with the Netflix cameras rolling and a crackle in the air – and your correspondent having just asked about the likelihood of Russell and Max Verstappen one day becoming team-mates given they now seemingly hate each others’ guts (but also allowing for the fact that Wolff has a penchant for the Red Bull driver) – the Austrian himself strode in and plonked himself next to Russell. Cue laughter.
So staged did it feel, it was tempting to ask whether this whole tiff between Russell and Verstappen has all been at the behest of Netflix; a bit of late-season knockabout fun between two of F1’s most prominent drivers now that the title race is over. Get all the big players involved. Get them slagging each other off in the media. Spice things up a bit. It will make a nice final episode for Season 7.
But that would be too cynical. Russell, for a start, is far too earnest for that. You could tell he was sincerely upset about what Verstappen said about him last weekend, although not perhaps to the extent that Dutch journalists, who described the King’s Lynn driver as having “tears in his eyes”, made him out to be.
As for Verstappen, “Max couldn’t give less of a s— about Netflix,” pointed out Lando Norris later on. “That’s obvious by now. If you don’t know that, you don’t know Max.” Good point.
“It’s real,” concluded Norris of the explosive row between Verstappen and Russell, which was waged in real time across the Abu Dhabi paddock on Thursday as the drivers went from press conference to press conference, from the media pen where they spoke to the broadcasters, to their paddock homes to speak to media from their own countries. At each station getting updated on what the other had said, and responding in kind.
Question: “George, Max says you’re a liar.”
“Well that’s funny because even before I said a word in the stewards, he was swearing at the stewards. He was so angry before I’d even spoken. And at the end of the day, there’s nothing to lie about. The facts were the facts. He was going too slow. He was on the racing line in the higher speed corner. I wasn’t trying to get him a penalty at all when I was on track. I was in pole position at this time.”
Question: “Max, George says 25 per cent of your engineering team sent their CVs around after you criticised the team in Budapest?”
“Well that’s a lie. George is a loser.”
Later that evening, Norris posted a picture on Instagram showing the Formula One drivers out for dinner in Abu Dhabi. In his caption, Norris could not resist referencing the spat between two of his rivals.
All of which poses a fascinating question. Is the love affair now over between Mercedes and Verstappen? Could Wolff ever bring in Red Bull’s four-time champion now that he has slagged off Russell to this degree? Could Russell and Verstappen ever work together?
The answer to whether Verstappen could one day join Mercedes is, never say never. Certainly Wolff remains a fan. It quickly became clear he was in Russell’s press conference to have a go at Christian Horner, not to criticise Verstappen. “This thing between the drivers, this is between George and Max, and I don’t want to get involved in that,” Wolff said. “But if the other team principal calls George ‘hysterical’, this is where he crosses a line for me. Now, [Horner’s] forte, for sure, is not intellectual psychoanalysis, but that’s quite a word. How dare you? How dare you comment on the state of mind of my driver? Yapping little terrier. Always something to say.”
If there is a chance to bring in the Dutchman, and plant one on Horner’s nose in the process, then why not?
No, the real threat from this row is to Russell. If Wolff were ever to talk Verstappen into joining him, could Russell swallow his pride and work with a driver who has insulted him so badly? Who has called him a “princess” and a “loser” and two-faced? Who so clearly thinks Russell is a teacher’s pet?
Russell is not an idiot. With Wolff standing next to him, he gave a very diplomatic response.
“Things happen and people move on,” he said of whether he could ever work with Verstappen in the future. “We’re adults and we’re mature. Right now it’s not even something I’m thinking about. I never had the intention of throwing Max under the bus like this until he came out and slammed me so personally. So this is not like I’m angry with Max. This is me just setting the record straight. I’m not going to stand here watching some guy slam me personally, as he has done.”
But in practice? One imagines it would be very difficult for him if Verstappen were to join. In the meantime, next year’s drivers’ championship has just been given an extra splash of kerosene.
F1’s nine most memorable driver feuds
9. Verstappen vs Russell
Max Verstappen and George Russell’s rivalry heated up after last weekend’s Qatar GP, where the newly crowned four-time world champion blamed Russell for a grid penalty. Both drivers have openly expressed their opinions on each other, setting the stage for an intense weekend.
8. Schumacher vs Coulthard
The 1998 Belgian GP sparked a great rivalry when David Coulthard, having suffered damage and attempting to limp back to the pit lane, was hit from behind by Michael Schumacher while on the racing line. An irate Schumacher accused Coulthard of intentional recklessness, even claiming Coulthard tried to kill him. The Scotsman strongly denied the accusation, but it did not stop the German from marching to the McLaren garage to throttle him afterwards.
7. Hamilton vs Rosberg
The Mercedes rivalry stands out because of the number of years it lasted. Both skilled drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had intense battles throughout Mercedes’ dominance, boiling over in 2016 when the pair took each other out of the Spanish GP and later that year when they famously threw Pirelli caps at each other in the drivers’ cool-down room.
6. Schumacher vs Hill
In a competitive rivalry, Schumacher clinched his first championship in 1994 at the cost of Damon Hill, who crashed out when the German deliberately directed his damaged Benetton into the side of the Englishman’s Williams. It sparked a feud between the drivers that would continue for the next two seasons and provide significant moments of drama.
5. Senna vs Prost
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s rivalry is iconic, defined by fierce title battles, on-track clashes and dramatic personal tensions. Their duels are among F1’s most memorable moments, with young upstart Senna upsetting the status quo by winning the 1988 title, before losing the 1989 crown when they infamously crashed into each other in Suzuka. The Brazilian would repay the favour the following year by taking them both out of the race at the first corner to ensure Prost could not catch him.
4. Alonso vs Hamilton
Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s rivalry began in 2007 when they were team-mates at McLaren. It was marked by the infamous ‘spygate’ scandal and a spectacular falling out between the two championship rivals, with both then missing out on the title to Kimi Raikkonen.
3. Hamilton vs Verstappen
The 2021 season finale – one of F1’s greatest battles – has gone down in folklore, and that’s without the incidents at Silverstone, Brazil and Saudi Arabia taken into account. Verstappen claimed his first title in one of F1’s biggest controversies, which led race director Michael Masi to lose his job and meant Hamilton missed out on the chance to become the sport’s first eight-time world champion.
2. Mansell vs Piquet
Nigel Mansell accused Williams team-mate Nelson Piquet of undermining his championship bid, fuelling a deep rift within the side that exploded in the media. “He’s got all the ingredients to be a great person, it’s just that he chooses not to be,” Mansell said of his more established colleague, who in turn responded: “Mansell is argumentative, he’s rude and he’s got a really ugly wife.”
1. Lauda vs Hunt
The Playboy vs The Rat, as Hunt cruelly nicknamed Lauda, was transformed into a Hollywood blockbuster, such was the scale of rivalry between the pair. Hunt pushed Lauda to his limits, both with his unprofessionalism in drinking, smoking and womanising, and on the track where Lauda crashed at the Nurburgring in a race he did not want to enter for safety reasons and that so nearly killed him. In a bitter feud, they earned each other’s respect, but in very different ways it took years off their life expectancies.
