George Russell has added some extra spicey sauce to Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix by labelling Max Verstappen as “pathetic”.
The spat between the British driver and Championship leader Verstappen has put some heat into the Florida race, whether the sun shines in Miami or not.
The row between the pair started in Baku last week during Turn Two of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when their cars collided.
Verstappen’s Red Bull was left with a hole in the sidepod after Russell had tried to overtake, with the world champion holding his position.
Afterwards the Dutchman angrily confronted Russell and called the Mercedes driver “a dickhead” and “Princess George” but Russell was in no mood to back down on Friday when he spoke ahead of Sunday’s race.
“It was all a little bit pathetic,” said Russell, who, like Verstappen is 25 years old.
“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.”
Making it clear he wished to move on, Russell added: ‘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.”
Without Russell’s clash with Verstappen, the build-up to Miami might have been a little dull.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called last weekend’s race in Azerbaijan “boring” and said F1 needed to look at what it could do to allow more overtaking.
Russell, who is director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, wants the races made more exciting by changing the rules over the aerodynamics affecting the cars.
He added: “We want to be able to fight as we all did in go karts where there was no aerodynamics to that. That’s the ultimate dream.”
“I think our sport took a really good turn for the better when these new cars were introduced, but we need to take it to the next step now.”
Dominant Verstappen leads the early season standings from Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in second, with Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso in third.
Lewis Hamilton is back in fourth, with his Mercedes teammate Russell three places further back in seventh.
The latest odds with most bookmakers on Sunday’s Grand Prix are:
Max Verstappen 4/9
Sergio Perez 3/1
Charles Leclerc 12/1
Fernando Alonso 14/1
Lewis Hamilton 25/1
Carlos Sainz 33/1
George Russell 40/1
