What did Max Verstappen tell George Russell after the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP sprint?

Max Verstappen did not mince his words while confronting Mercedes driver George Russell about their incident in the F1 Azerbaijan GP Sprint race on Saturday.

Both drivers had a scrap in the race while fighting for P3, which the Dutch driver believes the Brit unfairly claimed on the opening lap of the race. Despite his anger, Verstappen was able to get past Russell after the safety car restart and finish ahead of his Mercedes rival.

In Parc Ferme, Max Verstappen used some choice words in his interaction with George Russell.

George: "I had no grip."

Max: "Mate, we all have no grip. We all need to give a little bit of space."

George: "I know, I know."

Max: "But expect it next time the same, you know. D***head."

In his post-race interview, the world champion mentioned that the incident left a hole in his RB19's sidepod.

“No, it’s not clarified. I just don’t understand why you need to take so much risk on Lap 1. Understeering into my sidepod, created a hole…We all have cold tyres, it’s all easy to lock up, but in his beautiful way of explaining, ‘Oh mate, locked up, look at the onboard’, it doesn’t make sense. It’s fine, we still got into P3, got some good points, but it is what it is. Not the wall, just Turn 2, I think, where he tapped me. There is a hole in the sidepod. It doesn’t look that great, but it is what it is now, and we will focus on tomorrow.”

“If I’m George Russell, I’m doing exactly the same; if I’m Max Verstappen, I’m upset" - Mercedes team boss

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff sided with his driver and mentioned that if he was Max Verstappen, he would have been upset about the situation as well.

As per F1.com, he said:

“If I’m George, I’m doing exactly the same; if I’m Max, I’m upset. I think [Russell] defended well. I think it’s dangerous to overtake round the outside, because you could either end up in the run-off or end up in the wall, or you could have somebody on the inside who is weak and gives you all the place in the world."

It is the second race in a row that Max Verstappen and George Russell have gone wheel-to-wheel, with the Mercedes driver emerging ahead initially on both occasions.