Max Verstappen and George Russell ‘sat as far apart as possible’ at F1 driver dinner

Max Verstappen and George Russell were “sat as far away from each other as possible” during the annual F1 driver dinner organised by Lewis Hamilton.

That is according to McLaren’s Lando Norris, who took a cheeky swipe at the pair’s rivalry which escalated into a war of words at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton got the drivers together for their now customary end of year dinner in which the reigning world champion normally ends up footing the bill.

However, departing Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas revealed he covered the bill, which he says cost "about 20,000 local money", which works out at just over £4,000. 

Norris claimed his title rival Verstappen and Russell were at opposite ends of the table having shared a group photo on social media.

“2024 dinner! and yes, the two your thinking about were sat as far away from each other as possible,” Norris captioned his post on Instagram.

It appears that Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, nor Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, attended the dinner.

F1’s newest driver Jack Doohan was not there, but Esteban Ocon - who will not race in Abu Dhabi after being replaced by the 2025 rookie - did attend.

Russell v Verstappen row escalates

Russell sensationally claimed on Thursday that Verstappen had threatened to intentionally crash into him and “put his head in the f*****g wall” in Qatar.

"I don't know why he felt the need for this personal attack and I'm not going to take it,” Russell told media including Crash.net. "This is me just setting the record straight, I am not going to stand here and let someone slam me personally.

"I knew that was a spur of the moment thing, but the next day, we were joking around a bit with [Sergio] Perez and Carlos [Sainz], I saw it in his eyes that he meant it.

"He's a four-time champion. Lewis [Hamilton] is the champion I aspire to be - hard but fair; never beyond the line. We have a duty as drivers.

"For a world champion to come out and say he is going to go out of his way to crash into someone and put him on his head, that is not the example we should be setting.”

That came after Verstappen had criticised Russell for the role the Mercedes driver apparently played in pushing for the four-time world champion’s post-qualifying penalty last weekend.

Verstappen, who said he had “lost all respect” for Russell, doubled down on his attack in Abu Dhabi.

The Dutchman labelled Russell as a “backstabber” and a “loser”.

"George is a backstabber,” Verstappen said to De Telegraaf via ESPN Netherlands.

“The way he brings up all this nonsense - he’s just a loser. He lies and cobbles things together that don’t add up. I only voiced my opinion about his behaviour with the stewards.

“Clearly, he couldn’t handle that. And his comments about 2021? That’s how he acted with the stewards, insinuating nonsense.”