Max Verstappen and George Russell have been told in future to take the higher ground by Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen , who wasn’t impressed with their late-season quarrel.

Verstappen and Russell engaged in a war-of-words late in F1 2024 after Verstappen was penalised a single place on the grid for driving too slowly on a cooldown lap in qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix with Russell calling his actions “dangerous” as he came flying up behind him.

Max Verstappen v George Russell spat ‘just not pretty’

Called to see the stewards, Verstappen left the meeting fuming with Russell for trying to “screw” him over with the Briton going on to slam the Red Bull driver for what he saw as a “personal attack” on his character.

Their spat continued into Abu Dhabi, neither driver willing to back down with Toto Wolff even joining Russell during the Thursday’s media day to weigh in.

But if you ask Kristensen, a nine-time winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, both drivers were in the wrong and should’ve just walked away rather than keep hammering at it.

“It’s just a bit too much,” Kristensen told F1Maximaal.co.uk. “Sometimes you can just refuse to respond or maybe shake your head and let it go. It all got a bit out of hand.

“I would say that mistakes were made on both sides, but nobody accepts something as a mistake in Formula 1. Both parties say something, but don’t think they’re making mistakes, so they keep pointing the finger.”

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Such was the animosity after Qatar, Russell refused to sit next to Verstappen during the end-of-year drivers’ dinner in Abu Dhabi and moved the open chair that was next to the Red Bull a few places down the table.

“I think it’s sad,” Kristensen said. “I love the sport, and you have to be tough, you have to be brutal. But sometimes words are not the right counter.

“I love to hear the engines, that’s what I like! They should show it on the track instead of in the media. Let the cars make the noise.”

“They both exaggerated it,” the Dane continued. “I would have liked Max to have said after the race [Qatar], ‘I beat you in the race, I won’. He doesn’t have to say anything else.

“What happened is just not pretty. They are both guilty in my eyes.

“Max then probably overreacted a bit to something he didn’t think was fair. I didn’t think it was fair either, but still, you don’t have to overreact.”

Verstappen has revealed he and Russell have spoken since Abu Dhabi, leaving the Dutchman confident there won’t be lingering tensions when the drivers take to the grid at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.

“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.”

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