George Russell was annoyed by the behavior of Max Verstappen after new illegal defenses and attacks from the Dutchman. The Mercedes F1 driver is, however, happy to see the FIA and the drivers aligned on the same philosophy, even if he implies that Verstappen does not agree with the upcoming regulatory changes.
“I think the commissioners are very much in agreement with what needs to change” Russell said. “I think the biggest discussion is that they wanted to wait until 2025, so that it would be consistent throughout that year. I would say 19 out of 20 drivers said, 'if it's incorrect, do change today'.”
“I am happy to see that these incidents have been punished and I think that in the future, in Brazil, what we saw today [dimanche] and what we saw last week [à Austin] can no longer be tolerated.”
“You assume it should be easy to change if everyone agrees, but sometimes it seems harder than it should be when things have to be approved and we have to take a vote. But like I said, 19 times out of 20, we all agree on what needs to be done.”
Russell was pleased with his battle against Lewis Hamilton, which was intense but clean. On the other hand, he deplores Verstappen's unfair behavior with his rivals: “It was good to fight and it’s always good when you fight with Lewis because it’s tough and fair.”
“Right now we're seeing a number of maneuvers that are just… it's becoming more than entertaining or more than sporting, it's almost unfair to a certain point now. You could say that the first fight was maybe -to be 60-40 in terms of responsibility, for the second, I have not seen anything like this since Brazil 2021.
