Max Verstappen left even George Russell very impressed with his eye-catching overtake for the lead at Imola last weekend, sparking high praise from his British F1 rival
George Russell put aside his personal row with Max Verstappen to admit the Dutchman is “one of the best ever” in Formula 1. That comment came as the Mercedes racer admitted his Red Bull rival’s overtake at the start of last Sunday’s Imola race was “the best I’ve seen in a hell of a long time”.
Verstappen started the race second and was hoping to get the better of pole-sitter Oscar Piastri. But when Russell got the best launch off the line from third place, it seemed as though he would be too busy dealing with the Brit to even think about a move for the lead.
Except he wasn’t. As Piastri braked early to see off any threat Russell might pose, Verstappen roared around the outside of both of them to set up what would eventually be his second victory of the year so far.
He had the pace in his upgraded Red Bull to see off the challenge of Piastri and Lando Norris in the other McLaren. In contrast, Mercedes endured a miserable race with Russell dropping to seventh place by the end and Kimi Antonelli retiring with a mechanical issue.
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Russell referenced that, and his infamous row with Verstappen in Abu Dhabi last December, as he gave credit where it was due and hailed the Dutchman’s outrageous double move. “It was overtake of the year, definitely, without a doubt,” he conceded.
“It was the best overtake I have seen in a hell of a long time, to be honest. I thought my race start in Barcelona [2024, where he took the lead from fourth on the grid] was pretty good but, yeah, his one was pretty spectacular.
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“So it was a bit frustrating from my perspective, when I made a really good start and there was nowhere to go. I felt at that point my only hope was to fight with Max in that race – how wrong we were – just to see him zoom around Oscar like, bugger.
“But that’s why he’s one of the best ever, Max – you can’t take that away from him. Even with our personal relationship, or anything that happened in the past, you still have respect for what he does on the race track. That was an amazing move and he had an amazing weekend. The car was super quick and I think they surprised everyone.”
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It was a move that Verstappen very much enjoyed himself as he spoke of how he had been laughing inside his helmet after completing the overtake. “I had to laugh for a moment – not behind the television, but I actually had to laugh for a moment in turn three. I thought, ‘That one was good!’,” he said.
“I think if you watch it back, you can see that [Piastri] is very concerned with George, because he was actually second. And I get it. I took that momentum of course. Then you can’t react anymore either, because I already have some momentum.”
