There was nothing to separate Max Verstappen and George Russell on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix. Both lapped the Circuit de Catalunya in one minute, 11’848 seconds and the pair shared the second row of the grid.
There was little between them in the final laps as well, as they disputed fourth place at turn one and later clashed controversially at turn five.
This was the latest in a series of exchanges between the pair whose relationship at first seemed no better than cool, then clearly deteriorated following their clash in Qatar last year.
Prior to then, the most noteworthy exchange between the pair occured during the 2023 sprint race in Baku. Verstappen branded Russell a “dickhead” after they tangled while disputing third place. “I’m not just going to wave him by because he’s Max Verstappen in a Red Bull,” remarked Russell afterwards.
The stewards took no interest in that clash, but Verstappen was furious when they acted on an incident between the pair the following year at the penultimate round in Losail. They handed him a one-place grid penalty after ruling he impeded Russell while they were preparing to start their flying laps in qualifying.
Verstappen accused Russell of exaggerating the situation in his comments to the stewards. “In my whole career, I’ve never experienced what I have experienced in the stewards’ room in Qatar,” he said. “For me, that was really unacceptable.”
Russell dismissed his complaints and claimed his rival threatened to cause a collision between them. “I find his comments pretty ironic when he comes out and says ‘I’m going to purposefully crash into you, I’m going to put you on your fucking head in the wall,” he said. “For me, that isn’t acceptable.”
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The mutual antagonism has built over the 10 races since. When Verstappen cut across the turn one run-off in Jeddah to reclaim the lead from Oscar Piastri, Russell following behind offered his two penn’orth on the radio: “I presume Verstappen is going to have to give [up] this place?” He didn’t, and the stewards penalised him.
Verstappen tried to provoke a penalty for Russell at the next race, accusing his rival of failing to slow sufficiently in response to a yellow flag. Red Bull went so far as to protest the race result in the hope of promoting their driver to the final podium place instead of Russell, but the stewards dismissed their argument as unfounded.
These skirmishes paled in comparison to the events of Spain, as covered last week. The trigger for the collision was Red Bull’s decision Verstappen should give up his fourth place. It’s hard to imagine any driver he might have been less inclined to hand a position to than Russell.
Following their latest collision, Russell called Verstappen’s driving another example of the unacceptable tactics he’d highlighted previously. “I just got crashed into,” he said. “That’s how Max goes racing.”
However criticism of Verstappen’s driving from elsewhere in Mercedes was more muted. Team principal Toto Wolff appeared keen to give the benefit of the doubt to the driver who’d just swiped into one of his cars. “I need to see the whole situation, but if it was road rage, then it’s not good,” he remarked.
Both Russell and Wolff appear to have the same thought in the back of their minds: the possibility Verstappen could become a Mercedes driver one day. That may well be decided by what happens when the new power units arrive next year. In the meantime, Russell is out of contract at the end of next year and the greatest threat to his position clearly comes from Verstappen, if he indeed wants out of his Red Bull contract early.
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Almost 10 years have passed since Wolff had to referee the occasionally self-destructive pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Russell appears to have realised his knack for getting under Verstappen’s skin can help make his case to remain a Mercedes driver, reminding Wolff of past headaches he’d prefer not to repeat. It’s also helped push Verstappen to the brink of an automatic race ban.
This is no longer the ordinary kind of rivalry between two F1 drivers with designs on winning the world championship. Neither has a particularly strong claim to the 2025 title as the McLaren drivers pulled further ahead in Spain. Verstappen might regard Piastri as his main rival in that respect, and they have had run-ins too, but the four-times champion speaks of the current points leader in the kind of glowing terms it’s hard to imagine him ever applying to Russell.
There is real needle between Verstappen and Russell: a clash of styles and personalities which has culminated in a breakdown of mutual respect. Russell regards his opponent as a “bully”; Verstappen accuses the Mercedes driver of being two-faced.
The pair are unlikely to have any complimentary words for each other when the championship resumes in Montreal this week. And expect more fireworks if they meet on-track again at the circuit where, 12 months ago they shared the front row of the grid, again separated by nothing to within a thousandth of a second.
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2025 Spanish Grand Prix
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