Tensions between Max Verstappen and George Russell rose in late 2024, and the Mercedes driver says he won't back down.

I’m not there to be best mates with a world champion. I’m here to win. And that’s his mentality as well. There’s no love lost.”

Mercedes ace George Russell is ready to resume his on-track rivalry with Max Verstappen in 2025, and promises that he won't back down from a fight.

The duo clashed off the racetrack during the final two rounds of the 2024 season. Verstappen was unimpressed with the Brit’s approach to a post-qualifying stewards’ meeting, calling him ‘two-faced’ and a ‘loser’. Russell then hit back in Abu Dhabi, labelling the Red Bull driver a ‘bully’ who ‘cannot handle adversity’.

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