The topic of a controversy that marked the final races of last season’s Formula 1 is back in the spotlight. We’re talking about the argument that took place during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend between Max Verstappen and George Russell: heavy accusations against the Mercedes driver have been made by Gijs van Lennep, a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The two drivers have never gotten along. As many will remember, their tempers flared already during the 2023 season in the sprint race at the Baku GP. On that occasion, in the early laps of the race, there was contact between car number 1 and car number 63, which damaged the World Champion’s Red Bull, forcing him to give up the win to his teammate Sergio Perez.
Even then, the Dutch driver complained about the English driver’s behavior, but it was nothing compared to what happened last year. During qualifying for the Qatar GP, Max Verstappen was penalized by one position for slowing down George Russell during his fast lap in Q3.
This cost the world champion pole position, and he started from second place alongside the same Mercedes driver. Max Verstappen’s intentions were clear from his post-session statements: “He won’t come out of turn 1 in first position.” And that’s exactly how it went. With an incredible start, the Red Bull driver overtook the Mercedes driver and went on to win the Grand Prix.
The two also reportedly came very close to using their hands in the paddock. On this matter, in an interview on the Ziggo Sport program Langs de Vangrails, Gijs van Lennep, winner of two editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, shared his opinion with some strong words.
“It’s a difficult problem. If it were up to me, they could say whatever they want, but they shouldn’t slander each other. Look at Russell: he seems like a nice guy, no beard, a neat type, but in the meantime, behind everyone’s back, he’s the biggest trickster of all time.”
“They should give him a nice yellow card. He behaves kindly and thinks he does everything right, while Verstappen is not like that. This is the kind of person they’ll have to deal with at some point. He’ll be kicked in the butt. Formula 1 will do something about it this year…”
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