George Russell is loving life trolling Max Verstappen, but his latest attempt could have had consequences.
The Mercedes driver won the Canadian Grand Prix ahead of the four-time champion who he’s repeatedly clashed with over the years.
Russell beat Verstappen in Canada but Red Bull then protested his winGetty But not before some teasing inside and outside of the carsGettyIn the previous race in Spain, Verstappen was punished for intentionally driving into his rival, taking his penalty point total up to 11 for the year, with just one more resulting in a race ban.
When he and Russell lined up first and second in qualifying on Saturday, the Brit joked he had ‘more penalty points to play with’ ahead of their duel, winding up Verstappen.
Yet as Sunday’s race unfolded, the pair kept things clean, up until the closing laps.
With three laps to go Lando Norris crashed out trying to overtake McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and the race was put behind a safety car.
With Russell in first and Verstappen behind him, the pair momentarily swapped places, and instantly gave a differing version of events.
“Verstappen just overtook me under the safety car,” said Russell.
While the Dutchman told his team: “George suddenly just aggressively braked.”
Rules from Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, state that overtaking under the safety car is not allowed with both laws 49.5 and 58.12 making it clear.
Exceptions such as the car in front being delayed or having an ‘obvious problem’ are listed as caveats, but this was clearly not the case, meaning Verstappen could have committed a breach.
Should the FIA have dealt a punishment, a time penalty would have added points to his licence, ruling him out of the next race – the Austrian Grand Prix.
Russell was right up behind the safety carF1 Then all of a sudden Verstappen was aheadF1FIA rules on safety car overtakes
49.5) Overtaking during the lap(s) behind the safety car is only permitted under the followingcircumstances:a) If a car is delayed when leaving the grid and cars behind cannot avoid passing it withoutunduly delaying the remainder of the field, orb) If there is more than one car starting from the pit lane and one of them is unduly delayed.c) If any car slows with an obvious problem, ord) If a car is delayed during the formation lap(s) behind the safety car.
33.4) No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemedpotentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the safety car isdeployed. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry road,or the pit lane.
58.12) No driver may overtake another car on the track until he passes the Line (see Article 5.3) for thefirst time after the safety car has returned to the pits.
Not only is that event a home race as Red Bull are Austrian, but it also sees floods of Dutch fans head down dressed in orange.
Yet as it transpired, Red Bull were instead the ones trying to get a penalty for Russell.
The team appealed to the FIA stewards post-race citing rule 33.4 which says: “No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the safety car is deployed.”
The FIA cleared Russell of any ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’ and his race win was ratified, but the moment was just another chapter in the pair’s ongoing and increasingly vitriolic rivalry.
In 2023 when Verstappen was winning almost every weekend, Russell tried an audacious move in Azerbaijan and the pair both received damage.
Cameras picked them up getting heated post-race, with Verstappen calling his rival a ‘d***head’.
Things got nasty between the pair back in 2023 In 2024 things completely boiled overGettyThings continued to simmer up until Qatar 2024 when they exploded in the media.
Verstappen was given a one-place grid penalty for impeding Russell during qualifying and later came out swinging in a press conference.
He called the Brit ‘two-faced’ and said that he’d ‘lost all respect’ for his rival, alleging he tried to manipulate the stewards into a penalty.
Russell responded by calling the four-time champion a ‘bully’ adding: “He was purposely going to go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, ‘put me on my f***ing head in the wall’.”
Their fractures resulted in a frosty reception at an end of season dinner and later jokes at the O2 launch event for the 2025 season in London.
Now with their cars sharing the same tarmac on a regular basis, fans look set for even more of the rivalry, and with Verstappen needing to keep out of trouble to stage his title fight, it’s clear who’s enjoying the toing and froing more.
PosDriverNationalityCarPts1Oscar PiastriAUSMcLaren1982Lando NorrisGBRMcLaren1763Max VerstappenNEDRed Bull Racing1554George RussellGBRMercedes1365Charles LeclercMONFerrari1046Lewis HamiltonGBRFerrari797Kimi AntonelliITAMercedes638Alexander AlbonTHAWilliams429Esteban OconFRAHaas2210Isack HadjarFRARacing Bulls21 Read More Details
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