The dramatic bust-up between Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell in Azerbaijan continues to simmer as the F1 field takes to Miami.
Verstappen confronted Russell and called him a ‘d***head’ after the sprint race in Baku, where the pair collided during an aggressive Russell overtake.
Both refused to back down after the race – and now Russell has taken another dig.
Russell told Sky Sports F1 in Miami of Verstappen confronting him after the race: “It was all a little bit pathetic.
“I think something you learn as a kid is if you’re going to give something you’ve got to be willing to take it as well.
“He’s had his fair share of giving moves like that and being tough and hard at racing and it’s a little bit poor to see how he sort of spat his dummy out when it was the first time he probably got something back in the same regard.
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“From my side there was nothing really to say. I thought it was good racing, exciting racing and that’s the only thing that happened that weekend.
“We’re both drivers, we’ve both been in the sport a long time now and we have plenty of experience. We’ll have a chat, everything is fine, move on and I guess we’ll laugh about it one day.”
Verstappen said he was “absolutely fine” with the British youngster – though he was speaking before Russell’s comment calling his actions “pathetic”.
“It was already fine immediately after that,” he told Sky Sports News. “You just ask questions at the time, I didn’t like his response to it and then you get into a scenario like that. But that’s it, you move forwards, move on and try again.
“I haven’t spoken to him since the weekend but it’s also not necessary, we’re racing drivers we’ve been growing up together through all the ranks so there is nothing that really needs to be said anyway.”
DRIVERS DEBATE ‘BORING’ TAG
Seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton says the sport must “do better” to create tighter competition amid fears that Red Bull’s domination could result in boredom.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, winner of the past two championships, leads the driver’s standings after splitting the opening four races of the season with teammate Sergio Perez.
Arriving for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, drivers spoke openly about how far ahead Red Bull’s cars were of the rest of the field with Ferrari.
Hamilton was asked on Wednesday if there was a danger of American fans losing interest in Formula One given the total domination of one team and the Mercedes driver said while he still found excitement, he understood the concerns.
“It’s not boring for me,” he said. “I’m challenged every single day trying to get back to the front. So, it’s definitely not boring from my perspective. But as a racing fan watching, I can understand.
“Because there’s not as much competition as they’re perhaps used to with NFL and with NBA at the moment. That’s not my doing. I mean, we need to do better, I think, as a sport.
“They have already tried to bring the teams closer, but it never seems to work. All I can say is that we’re working as hard as we can to close it up and get back to that. Give them some more excitement.”
In three of the four races this season, Red Bull have taken the top two places on the podium, with Hamilton’s second place in Australia the only exception.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell suggested that fans might want to focus not on the race for the winner but on the contest between the best of the rest.
“I think the competition we’ve got at the moment with Ferrari and Aston Martin, every race we go to is really close between us in qualifying and the pace is really close in the race,” he said.
“If that was a fight for the victory, it would probably be one of the most exciting seasons we have seen in a long, long time and it is obviously just a shame that there’s two more cars well out in front So, forget about those two and just watch from (position) P3, it may be a bit more exciting.”
But Russell conceded the problem was real and a difficult one for Formula One to deal with.
“It is challenging,” Russell said. “In no sport do you want to see somebody dominate and you want to have competition and that’s what we all want in an ideal world. You have 20 drivers and 10 teams all capable of winning every single race if you do the right job.”
Perez claims Sprint race in Azerbaijan! | 02:06
STRUGGLING SARGEANT KEEN FOR HOME RACE
American rookie Logan Sargeant grew up racing cars in Florida, but that background will count for little as he faces his first race on the Grand Prix track in Miami.
Sargeant’s early steps in motorsport were at South Florida’s Homestead track, best known for NASCAR racing, and after showing early promise in karting he moved to Europe as a 12-year-old and began to compete in various series.
Driving in F3 and then F2, Sargeant has never competed in an official car race of any kind in the US.
He was given his chance in Formula One with Williams this season, after just one season in F2, having joined their academy in 2021.
With the Miami GP in only its second year, the course will be totally new to Sargeant, even if the heat should be familiar for the Fort Lauderdale born driver.
“I’m excited for this weekend – it’s nice to be back in my well-known climate, which is extremely hot. But it’s going to be a tough weekend not knowing the track. It’s a big hurdle to climb but yeah I’m excited,” he said.
“I started racing 10 minutes down the road at Homestead-Miami Speedway,” he explained. “It was really just at the time something to do with my dad and my brother. Obviously we were competitive kids, and we just loved the sport and we love the adrenaline, and that just took us on a long journey. Here we are, done the full circle back to Miami for my … first home F1 race. Looking forward to it.”
The 22-year-old is the first F1 driver from the United States since Alexander Rossi in 2015 and has joined the circuit at a time of unprecedented popularity in his homeland.
Sargeant has yet to pick up a point after four races this season but there would be no better place for him to make that top-10 breakthrough than in front of a crowd which will include many friends and relatives.
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