George Russell crashes Lando Norris interview as rumour swirls

George Russell crashed Lando Norris’ post-qualification interview in a tense moment after an ugly rumour swirled around the paddock.

Tensions briefly boiled over in the media pen at the Qatar Grand Prix after George Russell interrupted Lando Norris’ interview to confront him over an incident during qualifying.

The incident stemmed from a minor on-track moment during Sunday’s (AEDT) qualification session, which was eventually won by Australia’s Oscar Piastri, who took pole position ahead of Norris in second place and Max Verstappen in third.

Fingers were pointed at Mercedes driver Russell after Norris was forced to abort his attempt at a fast lap during Q3.

Russell was nearby in the entry lane of the pits as Norris attempted the first corner of the track.

There was a suggestion Russell’s presence on track distracted Norris and then resulted in him leaving the track a couple of turns later and therefore giving up on his qualification attempt.

However a rumour that Norris was blaming Russell for the failed attempt soon spread through the media pack, before it was passed to Russell by a journalist, just moments before he stood next to the McLaren driver for a subsequent interview.

You can watch the incident play out in the video at the top of the page

Clearly fuming at the suggestion, Russell then confronted Norris mid-interview over the rumour.

“You told me the reason you messed up Turn 1 was because of me,” Russell said.

Norris retorted: “Who said that? Bulls**t, can’t believe you believe them (the media) over me. I’m pretty disappointed.”

Russell shot back: “It sounded like something you would say though.”

“What even happened, where were you?” Norris replied.

“I passed you at Turn 1 and made a mistake at Turn 2,” Norris added.

The pair then managed to de-escalate the situation as Norris asked Russell to point out to him the reporter who initially told Russell Norris was blaming him.

Russell and Norris clashed during media interviews.

George Russell indicates the media was ‘stirring’ drama after his clash with Norris.

Speaking to reporters shortly afterwards, Norris reiterated that he had not criticised Russell and then described the exchange as typical banter between long-time friends.

Saturday’s sprint race was won by Piastri from Russell and Norris.

Norris currently leads the drivers’ championship on 396 points, 22 ahead of Piastri and 25 ahead of Max Verstappen.

The Qatar Grand Prix gets underway at 3am on Monday morning (AEDT).

Originally published as George Russell crashes Lando Norris interview as rumour swirls