George Russell has contended that McLaren’s current advantage has surpassed the one that Red Bull possessed at the height of the team’s dominance in Formula 1.

The widespread consensus that McLaren would be the side to beat was realised last weekend as Lando Norris prevailed in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

But while his winning margin over Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was less than a second, intermittent weather and Safety Car interventions shrouded McLaren’s true gap.

Indeed, having survived Verstappen’s initial charge in the opening stages, Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri created a 14-second lead over the Dutchman in 10 laps.

Even prior to the race, Russell had claimed that McLaren’s front-row lockout demonstrated it could switch attention to the new 2026 rules now and still win both titles.

The Briton has doubled down on that view amid McLaren’s victorious start, as he argued the team’s advantage has eclipsed what Red Bull boasted at its peak in 2023.

However, Russell has predicted that the McLaren drivers won’t capitalise on its supremacy as well as Verstappen did when he drove the RB19 to 19 wins in 22 rounds.

“I think their car is definitely capable of winning every race,” Russell said.

“Their car should win every race, but I don’t think they will win every race this year. Let’s see. 

“The gap they have this year on everybody is bigger than Red Bull has ever had.

“But when Max was in that [2023] car he was pretty reliable every single lap he did every single run in Q3, throughout qualifying, never really a question. 

“Hopefully we can be there to capitalise like we were at the [previous] weekend, as that should have been a 1-2 for those guys.”

FIA clampdown won’t hinder McLaren much

The discussion during the build-up to this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix has surrounded whether an FIA clampdown on flexible rear wings could destabilise McLaren.

But with Norris adamant the team hasn’t had to make changes to its car, Russell has conceded the ruling wouldn’t have altered the outcome at the Albert Park Circuit.

“If the TD (Technical Directive) was there in Melbourne they definitely would have won the race because they’re just so far ahead,” the Mercedes driver highlighted.

Where does McLaren’s advantage lie?

Instead, Russell has reiterated that McLaren’s cutting edge over the competition resides in how the team’s MCL39 car preserves the Pirelli tyre better over a race stint.

“If you’re talking about trying to find that amount of lap time in downforce that isn’t going to happen in a season and it’s never happened in a season,” he elaborated.

“They’re clearly doing something better than the rest, clearly substantially quicker than everybody when the tyres are getting hot.

“We saw that in the Bahrain test. We saw it in sector three in [Australia] qualifying, they were four-tenths faster than everyone else in sector three.

“Same car they had in sector one and two, only difference is tyre overheating.

“There’s room for us to improve but…and we know we have room to improve but we don’t feel like there are masses of opportunities to improve in that region, it’s quite tightly controlled.

“So they’re clearly doing something pretty trick and that gap is huge.”

READ MORE – McLaren ‘surprised’ by overall competitiveness of 2025 F1 car

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George Russell explained post-race why McLaren wasn’t the only team to win the strategy game in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

After pitting for dry tyres during a mid-race Safety Car period instigated by Fernando Alonso’s Turn 6 crash, Lando Norris was warned by his engineer Will Joseph that rain was on the way and it indeed fell hard in Sector 3 at the end of Lap 44.

Norris survived an off-track excursion before making a last-minute and “decisive” call with his team to pit, a strategy that helped protect his victory at the Albert Park Circuit.

And while the likes of Max Verstappen and the Ferraris stayed out, a gamble that didn’t pay off, Russell and his Mercedes team also made the call to pit at the end of Lap 44, which proved to be the right call as he claimed his 16th F1 podium.

Russel revealed post-race that Mercedes underwent a similar process to McLaren before the GP unfolded to ensure it nailed strategy in those vital moments.

“The process started this morning, to be honest,” he said. 

“We had some really good conversations about how we were going to make these decisions, what they needed from me, what I needed from them. 

“I knew the rain would be getting heavier, so it was down to me to make that decision. 

“Similar to Lando, I made the call five seconds in advance, and the guys were ready to change the tyres. 

“That was a key moment in the race. I’m really happy about it because these mixed-condition races—for both of us, to be honest—they’ve gone away from us in the last couple of races. 

“When we look at Brazil last year, we both got it wrong with strategy. Also in Montreal, it kind of went away from us as well. I think now, just to be here, is a good result.”

Podium came by ‘staying out of trouble’

Russell’s podium takes Mercedes one shy of 300 in F1 and the Briton revealed that the result came by “staying out of trouble.”

Russell added that Mercedes’ pace deficit to the likes of McLaren and Red Bull in the hands of Verstappen meant he had no choice but to abort chasing those in front.

However, he had a buffer to the outfits behind, particularly Ferrari.

“I think just staying out of trouble [was key], to be honest,” he said. 

“It was pretty clear from the beginning that these guys were too quick for us, and we were quicker than Ferrari. So, I was kind of in no man’s land. 

“I made a decision quite early on that the best way to approach this race was just to bring it home. 

“If I risked it more, there was no extra reward on the table because they were just so far ahead. 

“Very difficult. As Lando said, any small mistake and you’d be punished. But pleased to come home with this result because I don’t think this is probably our strongest circuit. 

“Especially after yesterday with the hot temperatures, I was also very happy with the P4 in quali.”

READ MORE – McLaren ‘surprised’ by overall competitiveness of 2025 F1 car

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Lando Norris has denied George Russell’s claim that McLaren’s advantage is so vast that it can afford to turn attention to the new rules coming to Formula 1 in 2026.

The widespread consensus that McLaren possesses the benchmark package in the MCL39 came true in Australia as Norris converted pole position into the race win.

Norris retaining more than three-tenths over the closest non-McLaren car – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – in qualifying led Russell to indicate the gap is insurmountable.

The Mercedes driver vowed that McLaren could allocate all resources to the impending regulation overhaul and still win both championships in the current campaign.

However, Norris has discarded his compatriot’s assertion as he highlighted how Red Bull began 2024 with an even bigger margin and didn’t win the Constructors’ title.

The Briton has voiced that McLaren’s desire to minimise the chance it experiences an identical decline will ensure that the team guards against complacency in 2025.

Asked whether McLaren can be regarded as the outstanding favourite this season, Norris responded to media including Motorsport Week: “Let’s see.

“Max was three-tenths off yesterday. Last year, we were much further off and ended up with the best car by the end of the season.

“We were over half a second off at the beginning of last year behind Red Bull and ended up with the quickest car.

“I know George made some comments earlier this weekend that they can just turn our focus to 2026. If that’s their mentality, wonderful, but that’s not the mentality to have.

“We know we still have a lot of work to do on this year’s car. If you relax in this position, you fail.

“In Formula 1, if you start thinking things are good and groovy, that’s when you get caught.”

Norris insists McLaren will ‘struggle’ in 2025

Norris has cautioned that it would be premature to state that McLaren is now uncatchable, despite the team’s dominant showing through all conditions in Albert Park.

The now five-time F1 race winner believes the perception surrounding McLaren’s potential would not have been the same had the campaign begun in Bahrain instead.

“I do think we’re favourites because the team has done an amazing job, and the car is flying,” he acknowledged. “But we will have races where we struggle.

“If we started the season in Bahrain, I don’t think we would have won, and you wouldn’t be asking me this question.

“Let’s allow a few more races to take place before making any obvious statements.”

McLaren line-up boosts team’s chances

Meanwhile, Norris reckons he and Oscar Piastri being more well-matched than other team-mate pairings helps both drivers to maximise the package at their disposal.

“We are the team to beat, mainly because we have two drivers up there pushing each other,” he continued. “That helps.

“Do I think me and Oscar pushing each other in qualifying yesterday allowed us to get one and a half, one-tenth more than the two drivers here because their team-mates aren’t as equipped or experienced? Yes, so add that into the equation as well. It’s not just about the car.

“The team has done an amazing job, and I thank them for everything they’re doing. But we know we can make it better, and that’s our aim.”

READ MORE – McLaren explains decision to use team order in F1 Australian GP

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George Russell has contended that McLaren could move focus to 2026 and still win both Formula 1 titles in 2025 based on its advantage at the Australian Grand Prix.

Russell declared heading into the weekend that McLaren would be “dominant” amid the blistering pace that the team had shown during pre-season testing in Bahrain.

But while Lando Norris insisted such claims were “short-sighted”, the Briton edged out McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to secure pole position at the opening round.

Norris was over three-tenths faster than the next non-McLaren car, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, while Russell in fourth was a massive six-tenths behind his compatriot.

With an impending regulation reset on the horizon in 2026, the teams will have a conundrum during this campaign about when to divert attention to next season’s car.

Russell believes that McLaren would be able to allocate complete attention to the team’s next-generation machine and still prevail in both championships this season.

“It’s what we expected to be honest. We’ve seen how strong they are,” Russell told media including Motorsport Week.

“It seems catchable. There’s been times Red Bull have started this part of the season [as strong].

“Clearly, I mean, they’re in such an advantage because they can stop development now and go fully on ’26 and it’s difficult to overcome that gap.

“I think Red Bull, they started the season off [in 2024] so far ahead of everyone but I don’t think people overtook them in terms of development.

“I think they brought some things to the car and went backwards or had some things clarified and went backwards.

“If you’ve got a six-tenths advantage at the start of a year nobody finds six-tenths throughout the course of a year.”

Russell is convinced that McLaren’s considerable advantage is deep-rooted in how the team’s recent cars have been able to extract the potential from the Pirelli tyres.

“You’ve only got to look at their strength in Singapore, their weakness in Vegas and how good they were in the race pace in Bahrain,” he highlighted.

“It’s all tyres. If you’re strong in sector 3 add only points to tyres. They’re doing something pretty special that’s for sure.”

McLaren poised to dominate without rain

Russell has admitted that the opposition’s chance to beat McLaren in tomorrow’s race will depend on whether the forecasted rain descends on the Albert Park Circuit.

“Tomorrow is anybody’s game as it always is in the rain, but if it was dry I expect that gap from McLaren to probably increase in the race pace,” he assessed.

“They’ve got a massive advantage it seems in sector 3.”

Russell expects Ferrari resurgence

The Briton, whose team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli exited in Q1, out-qualified the two Ferraris at least as the Italian marque endured a torrid time in the final session.

But while Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were consigned to locking out the fourth row, Russell is anticipating Ferrari to be involved in the battle behind McLaren.

“In McLaren up front we have a comfortable gap and then I feel like this season can be anyone’s game between ourselves, Red Bull and Ferrari.

“You’ve got surprises like Yuki [Tsunoda, fifth] and [Alex] Albon [sixth] has been really competitive this week.

“The Williams are showing great signs of quali pace, but in terms of the race I think that’s what we’re going to see.”

READ MORE – Lando Norris: McLaren MCL39 made it difficult to dominate F1 Australian GP qualifying

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Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff claimed Max Verstappen is “not on any radar” as George Russell enters a contract year.

Amid Lewis Hamilton’s 2024 bombshell that last season would be his final campaign with Mercedes, Wolff was in search of a replacement.

The Austrian eventually settled on teenage development driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with Russell assuming team leadership status.

However, Wolff didn’t hesitate when it came to flirting with the idea of luring Verstappen away from Red Bull, a pursuit he eventually abandoned in 2024.

With Russell on an expiring contract in 2025, could there be pressure on the Briton to perform to such a level that interest in Verstappen isn’t warranted?

“We need to concentrate on our driver line-up,” Wolff said ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. 

“I don’t flirt outside if I’m in a good relationship.

“So at the moment that [approaching Verstappen] is not on any radar.”

Those comments appear to put to bed any speculation Wolff is targeting Verstappen and is instead focusing on a future with Russell and Antonelli.

“I don’t plan to shift my concentration away from these guys and make sure that George has some visibility very soon, or has a contract very soon,” he said.

“[We will] find some time I guess before the summer, but we do that in a timely manner without disrupting the season”.

Russell focused on team performance, not Mercedes contract

Russell arrives at the start of the 2025 campaign having put together one of his strongest seasons last year. 

Were it not for a technical disqualification, Russell would have picked up three GP wins last term and his triumph in Las Vegas was a comprehensive beating of the competition amid a faultless weekend.

Moreover, Russell heavily out-qualified former team-mate Hamilton to further back up his credentials that he can lead Mercedes forward.

And after several years of the team performing below its lofty expectations, Russell’s focus right now is on returning Mercedes to the top of F1, rather than securing his contract for the foreseeable future.

“We have had such a long-term relationship and so much trust between one another and we are focused on getting Mercedes back on top and trying to win races and championships,” Russell said of Wolff.

“Performance speaks, so from my side there is no pressure. 

“I have no doubts about myself and everything falls into place when the timing is right. 

“We have bigger fish to fry right now, which is getting us back on top.”

READ MORE – George Russell unconcerned by Mercedes’ vested F1 interest in Max Verstappen

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George Russell has insisted he is remaining patient when it comes to achieving success with Mercedes in Formula 1, citing that he is certain his “time will come” soon enough.

Russell’s promotion to the parent Mercedes team in 2022 came with the expectation that he would be in instant title contention based on the squad’s previous track record.

Mercedes had been the dominant force in the sport prior to the Briton’s return, having won an unrivalled eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships from 2014 to 2021.

But the German marque has been unable to replicate that success since the reversion to ground effect cars, managing five victories combined across the past three seasons.

However, Russell, who prevailed in two races last year, isn’t growing irritated with his prolonged wait to be equipped with a package to mount a challenge for the title.

Even in the circumstance where Mercedes comes up short again in 2025, Russell, providing he earns an extension, harbours optimism that his patience will be rewarded.

“I know my time will come,” Russell told the BBC. “And I’ve just got to ensure that I keep on performing. And whether it’s this year or next year, it’ll come.

“And if I keep delivering those results, as I did over these last three years against the best driver of all time, I believe I will get myself in the fight and hopefully a Championship to my name.”

Russell ‘proud’ of Mercedes record against Hamilton

As he alluded to, Russell’s optimism that he has the essential credentials to claim the ultimate prize in the sport emanates from how he stacked up against Lewis Hamilton.

Russell outscored the seven-time F1 champion twice in their three seasons together, leading him to concede he has been unfortunate not to have a title to his name.

“The results speak for themselves,” he said. “And I don’t have anything I need to prove or show. I am proud of the results I’ve achieved going up against somebody like Lewis.

“At the end of 2021, statistically and in terms of perception, Lewis was the greatest of all time.

“And I’ve had three years against the greatest of all time, and I finished ahead of him two out of the three years I had as team-mates.

“And finished ahead more times in quali and more times in the race. If this was a different time or a different era, if you finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton, you’re a World Champion.”

Russell denies pressure relating to ‘new chapter’ at Mercedes

Hamilton’s bombshell departure to Ferrari has prompted Mercedes to embark on a “new chapter” in 2025 with rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli slotting in alongside Russell.

But although he is taken on the mantle as the senior leader within the team, Russell denied that has heightened the pressure on him heading into the upcoming campaign.

“This is turning a page. It’s a new chapter,” he acknowledged. “And I don’t suddenly feel any additional responsibility.

“He’s a great kid. He’s very young, but he’s a really nice guy. Super-fast, of course.

“Being thrown in at the deep end, which is going to be a big challenge. But in terms of raw speed, I don’t think you can question it. And there’s going to be an interesting new dynamic.”

READ MORE – George Russell: Mercedes has ‘things in the locker’ to cure W16 weaknesses

The post Why George Russell is biding his time amid Mercedes F1 title wait appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Mercedes‘ George Russell warns that Formula 1 teams challenging for the title through to the end of the season “could pay the price in 2026,” citing McLaren as 2025 favourites.

2024 proved to be one of F1’s most competitive seasons, with four different teams fielding race-winning drivers – Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes.

For the first time in the sport’s history, seven drivers won multiple races and there’s expectation that 2025, the final year of the current rule cycle, could be even closer.

But Russell, who expects reigning Constructors’ champions McLaren to be a front-runner after a consistent campaign last year, fears any team fighting to the bitter end of 2025 could suffer the consequences given the new engine and aerodynamic regulations coming next season.

“I think when you look at how dominant McLaren was in the second half of last year, without a doubt their favourites going into this year,” Russell told select media including Motorsport Week ahead of the F1 75 launch event.

“And when people had their strong weekends, McLaren were still there or thereabouts. 

“I think they only had one off-weekend in probably the whole of 2024. 

“But I think why it’s going to be so interesting is whoever continues to develop will probably win the championship but you’ll pay the price in 2026.

“So teams who come out of the blocks and it’s a close battle, they might continue to develop.”

How teams can balance 2025 F1 title push with 2026 development

Russell cited the final year of the last regulation cycle, 2021 when Mercedes and Red Bull were locked in a championship battle with drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

The Briton reasoned that the example exhibited by Mercedes, whereby set-up tweaks helped its title push in the latter half of the 2021 season, could be a way for teams this year to maintain a title push without compromising development for 2026.

“But we also saw it in 2021 I think with Lewis and Max, Mercedes stopped developing and somehow they just fine-tuned the car and the set-up and found massive performance in the second half of the year just by unlocking the set-up a little bit more,” he said.

As teams chase fine margins in development and the regulations are pushed to their absolute limit in the final year of the rule cycle, Russell is sure there’ll be a close fight for supremacy in 2025 with McLaren as a potential favourite.

“I think naturally always in that final year of the regs it becomes close,” he said.

“But I still expect McLaren to be right at the forefront.”

READ MORE – George Russell: Mercedes has avoided development ‘traps’ with 2025 F1 car

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George Russell is confident Mercedes has avoided falling into development traps with its new Formula 1 car.

Since the ground effect rules were introduced in 2022, Mercedes has found itself lurching from one development headache to the next.

In 2024, its season was characterised by highs and lows.

A surprise victory in Austria for Russell was backed up by wins for Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps.

However, in the months before that, Mercedes was comfortably the fourth-fastest team, and those following Hamilton’s second triumph produced underwhelming results before Russell dominated the Las Vegas GP weekend en route to victory.

Mercedes’ W15 was an unpredictable and imprecise F1 weapon, with set-up proving key to unlocking its narrow performance window.

Speaking to select media including Motorsport Week ahead of the F1 75 livery launch event, Russell is confident in the work Mercedes has put into the new car to avoid further pitfalls.

“I think it’s going to be a significant change this year to be honest.,” he said.

“Every year we’ve uncovered a problem, we’ve solved it and it’s created a new one and we’ve probably been a lot more disciplined with every change that we’ve made and been more thorough than ever in terms of the simulator running, just to ensure we’re not going to fall into a new trap. 

“And so far it’s a reasonable step. Obviously, you have no idea what everyone else is doing and it’s going to be, I feel like, quite an interesting season with how people deploy the resources between 2025 and ‘26.”

How Mercedes will avoid development traps in 2025

Russell was asked to explain the specific methodology Mercedes is employing to avoid the aforementioned development traps.

The three-time GP winner said that whereas in the past Mercedes was reactionary, solving one issue, then reacting to the next problem that was triggered, it has employed a “forward-thinking” approach.

“I think the last couple of years we’ve been so focused on solving the problem, we weren’t looking ahead to what future issues it would cause,” he said. 

“It’s like you solve one thing and then it creates a new problem. 

“So we’ve been forward-thinking much more than we have done in the past. And that’s quite normal in a world like Aero when you’re developing in the winter.

“But when you’re changing characteristics of the car and how it’s going to handle and how it’s going to feel for us driving it, if you make the front stronger, it’s going to take away from the rear and if you go too far, that’s just as much of a problem as if it’s in the opposite direction.

“So I think it’s really being thorough. 

“These are the fundamental changes we’re going to make. We think it’s going to do X. Is that going to be a problem at these races? And if so, how are we going to drive around it?”

READ MORE – Mercedes has ‘uncovered’ main areas to address for 2025 F1 car

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The FIA has defended itself regarding accusations from GDPA director, George Russell, of how it allocates the money collected from the fines of Formula 1 drivers.

In 2024, F1 saw a significant increase in driver sanctions that included fines, with the total amount exceeding over a quarter of a million pounds for over 50 offences.

The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association addressed a public open letter to the FIA after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to voice its concerns.

The statement came after comments made by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem on drivers swearing and the treatment of Max Verstappen after he swore in a press conference.

Russell voiced his concerns after the FIA failed to address the letter, complaining of a lack of “transparency” into where the money from fines goes.

Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s head of single-seater racing, responded to the criticism from Russell and his fellow racing drivers in a recent interview.

“The FIA is not a profit-making organisation,” Tombazis told Motorsport.com.

“We don’t have shareholders who are looking at some numbers in the stock exchange and hoping for share price to go up or get more dividends or anything like that.

“I think this question is sometimes slightly influenced by the emotions of the moment, of whatever fine is being discussed and so on.

“I realise that anyone who is paying a fine is always slightly annoyed about it and may feel somewhat aggrieved, but for sure there are so many different levels of projects that you can never come to the conclusion that this money is somehow spent for Christmas parties and so on.

“The amount of money spent in grassroots vastly exceeds the fines accumulated, which I think indicates that anything that goes in there will have a positive impact.”

Tombazis: F1 Driver fines go into ‘other initiatives’ run by the FIA

Russell’s comments referred back to the promises made during the FIA presidential elections about how the governing body would support grassroots racing.

But Tombazis stressed that the money gained from driver sanctions only goes into initiatives like supporting lower-level motorsport categories such as karting.

“What I can say with absolute certainty is that fines of drivers in one sport don’t subsidise another sport or another category or something like that,” he added.

“If you look at other initiatives, whether it is our campaigns, like the one about online abuse and all the grassroots we’ve been talking about before, or safety projects, I believe are noble ways of spending such money.

“And this money does contribute to that.

“There’s about €10.3 million spent on grassroots, for many clubs, for many countries, just to promote a range of projects of early motorsport activity, and I think that is very important.”

The former F1 car designer went on to add that all the investment is vital in nurturing the future talent of the sport.

“Ultimately, I think the health of F1 is largely dependent on the overall appeal of motorsport,” he explained.

“It’s not just having an exciting GP, but it’s also having more people who generally even do some relatively low level of grassroots level of motorsport in their country.

“I think that’s going to be ultimately beneficial for Formula 1.

“The other part, of course, is in order to select drivers for the future, how drivers can grow into the ladder and have the opportunity to do so even if they’re maybe not coming from a wealthy family, for example.

“That is what is ultimately the key aim.”

READ MORE: FIA steward: Mohammed Ben Sulayem ‘wants the best for everyone’ in F1

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Max Verstappen revealed that he spoke with George Russell at the conclusion of the 2024 Formula 1 season in an attempt to make peace and “start again next year”.

The duo’s spat got out of hand across the last round of the 2024 season based on events in Qatar which saw Verstappen lose pole position when he impeded Russell.

Verstappen himself said after the race that he had “never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard“ and that he had “lost all respect“ for his British rival.

The feeling was mutual, however, as Russell claimed Verstappen “bullied“ fellow drivers and “he cannot deal with adversity whenever anything has gone against him“.

Meanwhile, the Mercedes driver also alleged that Verstappen had cautioned him that he was going to “put me on my f***ing head in the wall“ before the race in Qatar.

But heading into 2025, it seems the pair have decided to attempt to pour oil on troubled waters.

“We spoke briefly after the race in Abu Dhabi,” Verstappen told Kleine Zeitung.

“That’s okay, we’ll start again next year and that will be fine.”

Lawson details F1 drivers’ dinner practical joke on Russell

Whilst Verstappen and Russell were raging a war of words on each other, the traditional end-of-season F1 drivers’ dinner took place before the weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Liam Lawson, who’s since been appointed as a Red Bull driver, spilt the beans regarding what went down that evening involving his new 2025 team-mate and Russell.

“This is f***ing funny,” Lawson said on the Pitstop podcast.

“We rock up and we’re at this big table, me and Yuki [Tsunoda] got there together, and we weren’t the first people there — there were probably like six or seven people there.

“But as the table was filling up, there was basically [one] side of the table was pretty much full, and opposite me was Max, and then there was like, three chairs to the left at the end of the table that were left.

“And George hadn’t turned up at this point — we were like, this is perfect.

“Everybody that was coming, we were like, fill that side of the table.

“We’re gonna save that spot for George, right next to Max.

“Then George arrives and we were all like, ‘Hey!’, and Max was like ‘Here [Lawson gestures beside himself] mate we’ve saved a seat for you!’

“And George just picks up the chair and walks to the other end of the table and sits on the other side of the table with Lewis [Hamilton].

“We thought it would be funny, It wasn’t funny — It was funny for us.”

READ MORE: Max Verstappen vs George Russell: Did F1’s latest bust-up get out of hand?

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