Christian Horner insists George Russell should address his issues with Max Verstappen directly, firmly rejecting public feuds and encouraging genuine, personal discussions.
Horner believes George Russell should have handled his dispute with Max Verstappen “face-to-face and man-to-man” instead of engaging in a war of words in the media.
Verstappen was furious about what he considered Russell’s behavior with the FIA stewards at the Qatar Grand Prix to secure a penalty for an awkward qualifying incident.
This sparked a bitter war of words between the two, with Verstappen doubling down on his previous remarks about Russell, while Russell claimed the Red Bull driver had said he would deliberately put him into the wall.
“Normally, with these things, rather than going through the media, you just talk it out: man-to-man, face-to-face.”
“If you have something to say, say it. Rather than ‘he said, she said,’ it’s better to handle it this way. They’ve raced together since they were kids. They know each other well, like many of them do, and I think a lot of these situations are often best dealt with on the padel court.”
Horner also again defended Verstappen’s version of events, noting that the Red Bull representatives alongside him during the stewards’ meeting found Russell “quite forceful.”
The Red Bull team boss also pointed to a rant by Russell during the Qatar GP about his dispute with Verstappen as evidence that the Briton is “a bit irritated 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 stewards’ room. The two guys with him on our side came back and said, ‘Wow, that was pretty forceful how George approached it.’”
“It’s one of those things. I think with the access you have compared to any other sport… you’re going to have emotions. Put a camera in a football dressing room, I’m sure there would be some lively language there too.”
“We’re simply focusing on the racing, to end the season on a good note. George had a bit of a rant yesterday, he was complaining in the car last weekend about his team putting on the wrong tyres and everything else. He’s obviously a bit irritated at the moment.”
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Horner Tells Russell: Confront Verstappen Not The Media Horner Tells Russell: Confront Verstappen Not The Media
