In a season where Max Verstappen and Red Bull already threaten to run away with it, at the Azerbaijan sprint race the Dutchman was handed a salutary reminder that he should not expect an easy ride. Mercedes’ George Russell was the driver to give no quarter, which infuriated Verstappen and caused as feisty an exchange off track as they had with one another on the streets of Baku. It ended with Verstappen warning he would be gunning for Russell in future.
The pair’s battle and its ill-tempered fallout was by far the highlight of another somewhat processional sprint, won by Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Pérez from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with Verstappen taking third.
Russell, who started and finished in fourth, had gone at Verstappen in third from the lights and the two vied through the opening corners before the Briton made it stick up the inside of turn three.
Verstappen was mightily aggrieved. Russell had a glancing touch on him at turn two that damaged the sidepods of the Red Bull and the world champion felt he was unfairly pushed wide into a brush with the wall at three.
Climbing from their cars, Verstappen confronted Russell who apologised, citing a lack of grip. “Mate, we all have no grip. You need to leave a bit of space,” Verstappen replied, before indicating this had vexed him such that he would be looking for payback.
Spain’s Marta García opened the first meeting of the new
all-female F1 Academy series with two wins from three races at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The Prema driver delivered an exemplary performance to open the season.
It is hoped that the championship, backed by F1’s owners, will ultimately help to propel a female driver into F1. Five existing F2 and F3 teams are running F4 cars in the series with 15 drivers competing. García, who has previously competed in F4 and the W Series, was very much in control in Spielberg, winning the first and third of the three races. In the third she was pushed hard by the Emirati driver Hamda al‑Qubaisi but held her position to open a solid lead in the championship with 58 points.
In race two, run on a reverse grid, MP Motorsport’s Amna al‑Qubaisi – Hamda’s sister – took the win with a fine run from pole on a strong afternoon for her team, but for García the series could hardly have got off to a better start.
“It feels great to be P1 in both races,” she said. “It also feels really nice to be the first ever person to win a round in the F1 Academy. I am really happy as we have done a lot of work to get here and still have a lot of work to do, but I am happy with the job and how it went."
“Well, expect next time the same,” he said pointedly, before concluding by going full-on playground, chucking in a “dickhead” as Russell walked away.
For a driver with two titles under his belt and a third well within his grasp this season, Verstappen, it could be argued, appeared to be as much aggrieved by Russell’s sheer effrontery in coming at him as anything else. Verstappen confirmed he and Russell had not had issues in the past but as the pair locked horns for the first time Russell was unwilling to back down and issued a bullish response.
“We are here to fight,” he said. “I was surprised and didn’t expect that reaction. The moves were all on. If the roles were reversed I am sure he would have done exactly the same. We know the risks and hopefully he’s learned the risks today.”
Which is a quietly patronising put down that will probably only fuel Verstappen’s ire once it is relayed to his motorhome.
Not that further combustibles were needed. The Dutchman had already suggested that with Mercedes’ current travails, his and Red Bull’s dominance made them a target for a team not in the title fight. “I felt I left him enough room,” he said. “Apparently I guess it’s hard not to hit a Red Bull car for them …”
Which is fighting talk indeed of an incident both drivers will probably wish to revisit even if in the grand scheme of the championship it was of little import.
Verstappen still leads Pérez by 13 points and Red Bull still have the dominant car, but the world champion with the blood up was in a mood to take a swing at anything and everything. Having squared up to Russell, F1’s authorities were next.
Long an opponent of the sprint race format, he delivered his most blunt assessment yet after the first of six such weekends this season. “Scrap the whole thing,” he said. “It’s important to get back to what we have to make sure every team can fight for a win, not implement all kinds of artificial excitement. I was bored in today’s qualifying.”
Those words must be taken with a pinch of salt. The format’s latest incarnation has improved, and there has never been a world champion in a dominant car who would welcome any changes that might add even the tiniest of variables to threaten their position.
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Not that, for all the energy it consumed, this really affected his charge to any extent. Which gives credence to Russell questioning why he defended so hard, risking ending his race in a wall when he had so much to lose, a point proved when Verstappen duly breezed back past him later.
Verstappen will start alongside Leclerc in Sunday’s grand prix and in what was an ominous indicator for the race when the drag reduction system was enabled, Leclerc could do nothing to hold off Pérez as he blasted into the lead. With a healthy car the Dutchman will be expectant of being able to similarly take the place and another win, which will doubtless improve his frame of mind no end.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fifth with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in seventh. Fernando Alonso was sixth and Lance Stroll eighth for Aston Martin.
