"All that's missing is they get their fists out": Nico Rosberg weighs in on the Max Verstappen-George Russell spat
Former world champion Nico Rosberg claimed that Max Verstappen and George Russell getting their fists out against each other was the only thing missing from their spat. The two F1 drivers have been making public statements about each other in the media since last week when the Red Bull driver aired out his displeasure over the Mercedes driver's behavior in the steward's room after the qualifying session.
The four-time F1 world champion mentioned that he lost all respect for the British driver for how hard he lobbied to get the Dutch driver penalized for the main race last weekend.
Heading into Abu Dhabi, George Russell did not take the comments lying down and held his own press conference in the Mercedes hospitality area where he called out Max Verstappen as a "bully" and further claimed that the Dutch driver believed that he was above the law.
While commenting on the public feud, Nico Rosberg spoke about the "thrill" of the spat and reflected to Sky Sports that it could be "consuming" for everyone in their respective teams:
"All that's missing is they get their fists out! It's very thrilling to watch. From the inside, it's horrible because it's so consuming. The team gets involved, the team bosses start fighting, and even Toto Wolff, Christian Horner got into a renewed fight about this. Your family gets involved, so internally it's incredibly intense and stressful."
"You've got Max, the street fighter, who thinks he's the King now, a little bit above the law, and George, who the Dutchman says 'he needs to go back in his pram and give him a toy. ' So you have those both sides. It's great to watch, and I think it's 50-50," he added.
George Russell plays down his feud with Max Verstappen
Mercedes driver George Russell stated that his comments against Max Verstappen got "more air time than it deserved".
Speaking with Sky Sports, the British driver spoke about the importance of the GPDA to present a united front. He said:
"I'm not even thinking about it. We have got bigger and better things to be worried about, which is racing, which is far more interesting. It probably got a bit more airtime than deserved. Ultimately, we wanted to show, that us as a group [the GPDA].
"We are united, regardless of personal views and we are all aligned of what we want from the sport, the FIA, and F1. That was the message we wanted to show."
Max Verstappen and George Russell will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix main race on Sunday behind each other as the Red Bull driver secured the second row while the three-time race winner will start from P6.
Although both drivers had qualified P5 and P7 but got a bump after Haas F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg was given a three-place grid penalty for a pit lane infraction.