George Russell asked Ted Kravitz to ‘go again’ on Verstappen row, new book reveals
In the swirl of the Abu Dhabi TV pen late last season, George Russell wasn’t looking to swerve the headlines. He wanted to make them. Ted Kravitz says so himself.
In his new book, Notes from the Pit Lane, the Sky F1 presenter lifts the lid on how Russell actively encouraged him to push for a second question — a TV-pen rarity — so the Mercedes driver could “give it back to Max” after their Qatar flashpoint. It was a calculated move from a driver who felt he’d been painted into a corner and wanted to redraw the lines in real time.
A quick rewind to Qatar: Max Verstappen thought Russell had tried too hard to get him penalised after a qualifying incident, and the Red Bull driver didn’t sugarcoat it. “Lost all respect,” he said of Russell, accusing him of unprecedented gamesmanship in the stewards’ room. Four days later in Abu Dhabi, Russell fired back. He claimed Verstappen had warned he’d “put me on my f**king head in the wall,” calling the Dutchman’s approach “reckless” and crossing into “personal attack” territory.
That’s the context Kravitz walked into when Russell arrived at the pen. As Kravitz tells it, Russell pulled him aside and said: Make sure you ask a follow-up. He wanted the oxygen of a second question to address what he called Verstappen’s “bullying tactics.” Kravitz, mindful that Verstappen debates rarely stay tidy — and no stranger to Red Bull turbulence himself after the team’s brief boycott of Sky in 2022 — checked he’d heard right. Russell was certain. “He said he was positive, and away he went.”
It’s a rare peek behind the curtain. Drivers manage narratives all the time; they just don’t often enlist the interviewer on-mic. In this case, Russell wanted to flip the balance after Verstappen’s broadside and make it crystal clear he wasn’t backing down. The timing was no accident, either. The title fight wasn’t Russell’s to influence, but reputation and leverage matter in F1. The TV pen, on a Thursday in Abu Dhabi, suddenly became a battleground.
On the surface, Russell vs Verstappen has always had a certain inevitability. One a polished, data-driven operator fighting to become Mercedes’ standard bearer; the other a four-time World Champion with a brutal instinct for track position and zero tolerance for what he sees as theatre. Their on-track brushes have been few, but sharp. Off track, they’ve traded more jabs than either will admit to enjoying.
It didn’t help that, earlier this year, the paddock indulged a fever dream: Verstappen to Mercedes. The rumour mill spun hard through the summer before Verstappen committed to staying put at Red Bull, resetting the picture and cooling the what-ifs. By late July, Russell was closing on fresh terms with Mercedes, and this week the team confirmed he and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will continue as its driver pairing into the 2026 rules era. Whatever threat there was to Russell’s seat is ancient history now; the rivalry remains strictly across the garage.
What Kravitz’s account really underlines is how curated conflict has become in modern F1. Everyone knows the cameras are rolling and the soundbites will be clipped for millions. Russell chose to go on offense in Abu Dhabi, and he did it through a journalist who, for better and worse, is part of the story whenever Verstappen’s name pops up. It was smart media work from a driver increasingly comfortable playing at both speeds: engineer-whisperer inside the garage, combative when the visor’s up.
Does it all blow over the moment the lights go out? Usually. Drivers compartmentalise. But none of this exists in a vacuum. Reputation informs racing room. Memory shapes margins. If Russell felt Qatar crossed a line, he wanted everyone to know he’d draw one back in permanent marker. If Verstappen felt he’d been stitched up in the stewards’ room, he made it clear he’d noticed.
We’re deep into 2025 with the usual title gravity pulling at the front and the rest scrambling for oxygen. These two don’t share a car, or a philosophy, or much patience for each other when the elbows are out. Which is precisely why any fresh skirmish between Russell and Verstappen will be box office. One thing’s certain: if the sparks fly again, nobody will need a second question to spot it.
