Christian Horner: Max Verstappen’s row with George Russell is a pantomime

Christian Horner described George Russell’s spat with Max Verstappen as “pantomime season” before hitting back at Toto Wolff.

Russell escalated his war of words with the Dutchman on Thursday, following their row in Qatar last weekend, by calling Verstappen a bully and saying someone needs to stand up to him.

The British driver also accused the four-time world champion of threatening to put him “on your f*****g head in the wall”, a claim Verstappen told Dutch media was not true.

Verstappen stood by his stance that he found Russell’s attempts to get him a penalty in Qatar unacceptable.

Horner is confident that the spat will not spill over onto the track.

“Max is a very straight-shooter. He tells the truth exactly what he feels,” Horner said at the team principals’ press conference.

“I believe 100 per cent what he said to be accurate.

“A lot has been made of it yesterday, it is pantomime season, we are getting ready for Christmas so maybe there is an element of end-of-term blues there.

“I don’t think it will have any effect on the grand prix itself.”

Russell was supported at his media session on Thursday by Mercedes team principal Wolff, who took aim at Horner by labelling his Red Bull counterpart as “a yapping little terrier”.

Horner responded to those comments, saying: “I love terriers! I think they are great dogs, I’ve had four of them.

“The great thing about terriers is that they are tremendously loyal. To be called a terrier, is that such a bad thing?

“They are not afraid of having a go at the bigger dogs. I’d rather be a terrier than a wolf maybe!

“Toto is quite dramatic as we all know. Toto likes to talk a lot but that is the way it is.

“There is sort of a love-hate relationship where Toto loves to hate me.”