George Russell jokes Max Verstappen retirement threat ‘whinging to get more money’
George Russell joked that the threat of Max Verstappen retiring from Formula 1 upon the expiry of his contract is “all a big tactic of his” to get more money.
Verstappen has spoken on multiple occasions about how his career may not be as long as the likes of Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton in the sport, having come through as Formula 1’s youngest ever driver back in 2015.
The ever-increasing demands placed on drivers and his desire to try endurance racing are playing a part in him looking beyond Formula 1, potentially as soon as after 2028, when his current Red Bull deal expires.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
‘Whinging’ of Max Verstappen ‘all a big tactic’
The two-time World Champion spoke to the media at Silverstone and reiterated that the record 24-race calendar put in place for the 2024 season is “not helping” his desire to stay in Formula 1 for the long-term, with the longest ever season set to take place next year.
Mercedes driver Russell hopes his Red Bull rival does not leave the sport in his early 30s, but spoke with a wry smile about why he thinks Verstappen may be hinting at retiring before many of his colleagues consider doing so.
”I think he’s whinging because he wants more money!” Russell joked to media including PlanetF1.com at Silverstone when asked about the ever-expanding calendar.
”He’s the highest-paid on this grid and rightly so for what he’s achieving, but even so, I think it’s all a big tactic of his, that threat of retirement.
”I hope he doesn’t, I hope he stays for as long as I stay because I want to fight against the best drivers in the world.
”I’m head-to-head with Lewis [Hamilton] at the moment and I want to be doing that with Max and Charles [Leclerc] etc, and I think we’re in a really great place at the moment as a sport.”
When asked about his own feelings for how the growth of the calendar, Russell takes a more agnostic view when it comes to the expansion.
He admitted that it’s going to be a “brutal” time for all involved with the amount of travelling, but the measures taken to group certain races together should help to ease some of the load somewhat.
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”I mean, I hear Max’s comments all the time,” he said in response to a question from PlanetF1.com.
”I’m doing what I love that I’m almost ‘the more the merrier’, to a certain extent. We’re the most fortunate, privileged people in the world to be Formula 1 drivers.
”Of course, there’s a huge amount of events, there’s a lot of things that come with it. I’d happily take more races but less commitments outside of the race weekend.
”I know obviously, Red Bull probably work them quite hard on a marketing perspective. Happy to see the season being a bit more geographical, and more efficient for costs and whatnot, it’s still going to be pretty brutal for all of us travelling to and from the races, especially the first four races, I think, Australia, Japan, China.
”Again, it’s a work in progress and it’s going in the right direction.”
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