Max Verstappen gives awkward response after being asked about his relationship with George Russell at Australian Grand Prix
It seems that Formula One sensations Max Verstappen and George Russell will never be close pals.
Battling against one another on the winding tarmac for nine solid months every year would test even the most amiable of drivers, yet these monsters of the track are in the thick of an actual feud.
Verstappen, who's the reigning world champion and represents Red Bull, was accused of bullying by Mercedes man Russell at last year's Qatar Grand Prix after he received a penalty for impeding the Englishman.
"People have been bullied by Max for years now," Russell claimed at the time, with Verstappen firing back: "George is a backstabber that he brings all this stuff up. He's just a loser."
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As the 2025 season kicked off this weekend in Australia, the media was keen to hear if they'd patched things up.
Asked if he'd shaken hands with Russell and called a verbal ceasefire, Verstappen stated: "No, it's still shockingly bad," before rather unconvincingly adding 'it's all good'.
"What he said," Russell weighed in, who couldn't help but smirk.
This comes after Russell spoke to BBC Sport ahead of the Aussie Grand Prix.
"I wasn't going to just stand and be bullied around," began the 27-year-old.
"People seem to always back down to him. And that's just not how I go about my business. I'm not there to be best mates with a world champion. I'm here to win, and that's his mentality as well. There's no love lost. I've never been scared to race against Max. I've always put up a fight."
At this weekend's big race, Verstappen pipped Russell to second place as McLaren star Lando Norris sped to victory.
Following the result, the four-time world champ revealed to Sky Sports that he was pleased to best his 2024 outcome at the same event.
"It was a difficult race of course. Lando had a little moment on entry into [turn] six so he lost a lot of momentum there. That's how I got close and I got the DRS. I got close but it's very hard to pass around here. I'm just very happy to bring it home and score good points. This was a decent starting point for us," Verstappen shared.
"[Car performance is] better than I expected it to be. You can see in the first stint we were lacking a little bit of pace compared to the McLaren. But it's still 18 points more than what I had here last year."
Dan Seddon