George Russell says Max Verstappen is ‘whingeing’ because he 'wants more money’ ahead of bigger 2024 F1 calendar

George Russell has responded to Max Verstappen’s claims about the F1 calendar, claiming the reigning world champion is eyeing a pay rise. The Red Bull drivers’ championship leader has said that a record-long season for 2024 is deterring him from continuing to race beyond his current deal, which expires in 2028.

Ad Verstappen currently earns £40 million a year to make him F1’s highest-paid driver, before Lewis Hamilton signs the £250 million contract he wants with Mercedes. Formula 1Wolff and Horner spat rumbles on over 2026 regulations04/07/2023 AT 21:15 “I think he’s whingeing because he wants more money,’ Russell said in quotes published by the Daily Mail.

“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 at the moment and I want to be doing that with Max and [Ferrari's] Charles [Leclerc], and I think we’re in a really great place at the moment as a sport.” Hamilton confident of striking new deal with Mercedes Wolff and Horner spat rumbles on over 2026 regulations Hamilton among eight drivers handed post-race penalties Russell stressed the increasing number of races is a concern, and insists something has to give ahead of an even more hectic calendar. “It is challenging, we can’t just keep adding more commitments, more races, there’s got to be a point where if you are adding something somewhere, something has got to be taken off,” he explained.