Mercedes driver George Russell lambasts Max Verstappen for his ‘unsporting antics’

George Russell called out Max Verstappen's driving tactics against Lando Norris in Mexico and branded them unsporting and unfair. The last couple of races have seen an interesting side of the Red Bull driver where he has been very focused on his title rival.

The race in Austin almost turned into a one-on-one battle with Verstappen and Red Bull being primarily focused on what Lando Norris was doing and trying to beat him in the race. First, it was through strategy, but when that didn't entirely work, the driver's defense became somewhat questionable.

Things escalated in the next race in Mexico, where Verstappen pushed Norris off track twice and was penalized with two 10-second penalties.

While Verstappen has suggested that those penalties were a result of biased stewards, George Russell has called out the Red Bull driver's antics on track and called the incidents unsporting.

The Mercedes driver had a decent race in Mexico, and he finished behind teammate Lewis Hamilton. Looking back at how the race panned out, he was questioned about Verstappen's moves, to which he said that they were not acceptable. He told media, including Sportskeeda:

“It was nice to have the battle and it’s always good when you fight with Lewis because it’s hard and fair. At the moment you’re seeing a number of manoeuvres that are just… it’s getting beyond entertaining or beyond sporting, it’s just almost unfair to a point now."

He made it clear that he was speaking about Max Verstappen’s antics against Lando Norris, adding:

“You can argue the first one was maybe 60-40. The last one, I’ve not seen anything like that since probably Brazil [2021].”

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George Russell happy that Max Verstappen's aggressive moves could be penalized in the future

George Russell did appreciate the fact that the stewards penalized the Red Bull driver for the moves that were made by him. For the two incidents, Max Verstappen was handed two 10-second penalties.

As a result, the Red Bull driver finished the race behind both Mercedes. Taking heart from the fact that the moves were penalized, Russell looked at the positive side of things and said:

“I’m glad to see those incidents were punished today. I’m glad to see those incidents were punished and I suspect moving forward in Brazil what we saw [in Mexico City] and what we saw [in Austin], you won’t be able to get away with.”

One of the major reasons why Max Verstappen has been forced to opt for this approach is that the Red Bull driver doesn't have a car capable of competing with Lando Norris anymore. When that's the case, desperation sets in, and he ends up going for moves that he would not in general.