Verstappen’s angry Russell feud ‘good for F1’ after ‘d***head’ remark

F1 preview: A lap of the Miami Grand Prix

Max Verstappen’s angry reaction to George Russell is “good” for F1, according to ex-Sky Sports host Johnny Herbert. The former F1 driver has also backed the Mercedes star as he suggested what Verstappen was complaining about was simply hard racing.

Verstappen and Russell came together on the opening lap of the Azerbaijan sprint race, prompting a furious reaction from the Dutchman. After the race, he approached Russell for talks in front of the cameras and even branded the ex-Williams driver a “d***head”.

Herbert told Express Sport: “It was already a slightly unhappy Max at Red Bull before they got to the weekend. Qualifying was okay but of course then that sprint race didn’t quite work out, you could see there was anger in his face because he thought George should have backed out of it.

“But if you reversed it and put Max on the inside and George on the outside, would Max have pulled out?

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“No he wouldn’t have done and that’s racing, that’s what racing is all about. It’s good because that’s part of the thing. I always hear on the radio, ‘He pushed me off, he leant on me, it’s not fair, he pushed me off the circuit.’ That’s what it’s about. You know they are going to do that.”

After the sprint race, Russell stressed he was “very surprised” how angry Verstappen was after the contact. Russell felt the Red Bull driver had “already lost” the position with the reigning champion taking a “huge risk” to remain on the outside.

It’s a view backed by Herbert who feels Russell had the priority on the inside of the apex. He continued: “That’s what you do, you always take away as much track as you can if you are slightly ahead and then in that situation you can’t turn left at turn two because there’s a car on the inside.

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“Max tried to go a little bit wider, didn’t hit the wall which was good but George was on the inside. There’s a risk of staying on the outside. But then you also know if I back out of this and let George go, I’ve got cars behind me who are probably going to blow past me going towards turn three potentially, so he’s tried to stay in there. That’s racing.

“The anger yes, it was anger there. Is it little cracks starting to appear? Because Sergio [Perez] is keeping him under pressure.” Verstappen refused to accept Russell’s apology after the race and laughed at the Mercedes driver’s explanation that a lack of grip was to blame.

The incident was on the agenda again in Miami with the pair reiterating they had not held further discussions. Russell said: “I’ll continue racing the same way I always would…. Obviously, he was pretty upset about it but that’s racing. These things happen and we are all here to fight.”

Herbert hosts the brand new ‘Lifts the Lid’ podcast alongside Billy Monger.

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