A complaint in the steward\u2019s room led to a one-place grid penalty for the Red Bull<\/a> driver, which only spurred him on to go and win the race and extend his lead at the top of the drivers\u2019 championship<\/a>, having already won his fourth title.<\/p>\n This year, the pair have clashed on track, with Verstappen penalised for driving into Russell<\/a> at the Spanish Grand Prix.<\/p>\n Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 284 2 275 3 187 4 172 5 151 6 109 7 64 8 54 9 37 10 27 <\/p>\n However, the biggest talking point has been whether Verstappen could move to Mercedes in 2026<\/a>, which would potentially leave Russell looking for a race seat elsewhere.<\/p>\n Those rumours appear to have been put to bed, with Russell set to sign a new deal with the Silver Arrows soon<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Hungarian Grand Prix<\/a> saw the gap between the two drivers close to just 15 points as the Mercedes<\/a> driver secured his sixth podium finish of the season.<\/p>\n Russell admitted that Verstappen\u2019s disappointing weekend was \u2018strange\u2019, and the Dutch driver would likely agree.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Mercedes driver George Russell\u2019s life outside F1 from net worth to height<\/a><\/p>\n Russell was asked in his interview with Sky Sports<\/a> F1 (3\/8, 4:40 pm) about Charles Leclerc\u2019s struggles and how he caught up to the Ferrari driver in the closing stages and said: \u201cWe presumed something was not right.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing we can think of is that they were running the car too low to the ground, and they had to increase the tyre pressures for the last stint because they were using an engine mode that was making the engine slower at the end of the straight, which is where you have the most amount of plank wear.\u201d<\/p>\n When Russell was told it was a chassis issue, he surmised: \u201cHe\u2019s not going to tell you that they\u2019re close to being illegal!<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the only thing we can think of, based upon the lap times, the engine mode they were running and stuff like that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, nevertheless, really pleased with the result. A strange weekend, when you exclude McLaren, and you\u2019re looking at the order of P3 to P13.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite odd, you wouldn\u2019t expect Max to be quite so far down. Aston had an amazing weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we\u2019ll take the positives, but we won\u2019t get carried away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen\u2019s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend<\/a><\/p>\n Max Verstappen frustrated during unheard team radio at the Hungarian Grand Prix<\/p>\n Typically on a race weekend, Red Bull will start slowly during practice and build up their performance in time for qualifying and the race itself.<\/p>\n However, as soon as Verstappen admitted on Saturday that he was happy simply to reach the top 10 shootout, it was clear Red Bull were in trouble.<\/p>\n RANKDRIVERTEAMPOINTS1Lando NorrisMcLaren252Oscar PiastriMcLaren183George RussellMercedes154Charles LeclercFerrari125Fernando AlonsoAston Martin106Gabriel BortoletoSauber87Lance StrollAston Martin68Liam LawsonRacing Bulls49Max VerstappenRed Bull210Kimi AntonelliMercedes1<\/p>\n![\"Mercedes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2227695188-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Andrea Diodato\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesGeorge Russell calls Max Verstappen\u2019s result \u2018strange\u2019 at the Hungarian Grand Prix<\/p>\n