Christian Horner believes George Russell should have discussed his feud with Max Verstappen in “face to face and man to man” instead of getting into a war of words in the media.
Verstappen was furious with the way he felt Russell behaved with FIA stewards at the Qatar Grand Prix to secure a penalty for an embarrassing incident in qualifying.
This sparked a bitter war of words between the two, with Verstappen doubling down on his previous comments about Russell while the latter claimed the Red Bull driver said he was deliberately going to drive him into the wall.
“Normally, these things, rather than doing it through the media, we just discuss it: we talk about it man to man, face to face.”
“If you have something to say, say it. Rather than saying 'he said, she said,' it's better to approach it that way. They have run together since they were children. They know each other a lot, like many of them, and I think a lot of these situations are often better handled on the padel court.”
Horner also once again defended Verstappen's version of events, noting that the Red Bull representatives alongside him at the stewards' meeting felt that Russell was “fairly impactful”.
The Red Bull team boss also pointed to a rant from Russell during the Qatar GP about the row with Verstappen as proof that the Briton is “a little nervous at the moment”.
“Max has no reason to lie, he's never lied before. He'll tell you straight. Of course, Max wasn't the only one in the commissioners' room. The two guys with him on our side came back and they said, 'Wow, that was pretty impactful how George approached that.'”
“It's one of those things. I think with the access you have compared to any other sport…you'll have emotions. Put a camera in a locker room at a football game, I I'm sure there would be some live language there too.”
“We're just focusing on racing, finishing the season on a good note. George had a bit of a tantrum yesterday, he was bitching in the car last weekend at his team for putting the wrong tires on and everything. the rest. He's obviously a little upset at the moment.”
