After being forced to settle for second place in Melbourne, Max Verstappen awkwardly joked about the state of his relationship with George Russell during the post-race press conference.
Lando Norris took pole position at the Australian Grand Prix on the Saturday, and then managed to secure his fifth career victory after he held off a late charge from Red Bull‘s Verstappen.
In the first race of the 2025 Formula One season, the 27-year-old had to settle for second place, while Mercedes‘ Russell came in third.
The Beef Between Verstappen & Russell
It all kicked off between the pair last season
The explosive relationship between Verstappen and Russell was a central talking point at the end of last season after the pair clashed before the Qatar Grand Prix in December, and their frosty relationship shows no signs of thawing.
The Brit labelled the Red Bull driver a “bully” at the time and alleged that Verstappen had threatened to put his head “in the wall.”
As the podium trio faced the media after the race in Melbourne, a reporter noted that Verstappen and Russell were having a “good old chat” before Norris came onto the sofa and asked if the pair had “cleared the air.”
“No, it’s still shockingly bad,” Verstappen responded, before adding unconvincingly: “I mean… it’s all good, it’s all good.”
Russell added: “What he said.”
The Mercedes driver spoke about his ongoing feud with the Dutchman ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, declaring there is no “love lost” between the pair.
“I wasn’t going to just stand and be bullied around. People seem to always back down to him. And that’s just not how I go about my business,” he told BBC Sport. “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. I’ve never been scared to race against Max. I’ve always put up a fight.”
Lando Norris Speaks About Opening Race Victory
It was a good race weekend for the McLaren ace
Despite the tension between P2 and P3, Norris shared how pleased he was to fend off Verstappen to take an early seven-point lead at the top of the 2025 standings.
Speaking to reporters, the McLaren driver said: “It was amazing. Tough race, especially with Max behind me. I was pushing, especially in the last two laps. It was a little bit stressful, not going to lie. This time we got it right and ended on top, so I’m happy.”
| Top 5 of the Australian Grand Prix | |||
| Position | Driver | Team | Points |
| 1. | Lando Norris | McLaren | 25 |
| 2. | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 18 |
| 3. | George Russell | Mercedes | 15 |
| 4. | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 12 |
| 5. | Alex Albon | Williams | 10 |
When questioned about how he kept his cool during lap 57, which featured several crashes and Safety Car appearances, the 25-year-old said: “We got it wrong a lot last year, so I guess we learn from our mistakes.
“We lost out on Silverstone and Canada through a race like this, so we’ve learned from our mistakes. It’s still only round one of 24, but dealing with the pressure, dealing with Max, dealing with Oscarbehind me, I was pushing the whole way. I could relax inside, but I wasn’t relaxing from how much I was pushing. A tough one. To not make overly too many mistakes, to not have a mistake that cost me anything, I guess I can take a little bit of credit for that. A tough, challenging race, but for McLaren, I need to give thanks because they have given me an amazing car.”
