'George Russell on Max Verstappen hate watch?' Fans pile in on F1 star's 'shady' Nurburgring 24 hour post

Verstappen and Russell after qualifying at Red Bull Ring — Photo: © IMAGO

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'George Russell on Max Verstappen hate watch?' Fans pile in on F1 star's 'shady' Nurburgring 24 hour post

Russell had his eyes on the Nurburgring this weekend

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 18 May 2026 21:56

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F1 fans were quick to tease George Russell in the comments of his latest social media post, where he revealed he watched Max Verstappen's Nurburgring 24 Hours attempt at the weekend.

For the first 20 hours of the iconic endurance event, it appeared that the No.3 Mercedes-AMG team of Verstappen, Dani Juncadella, Lucas Auer and Jules Gounon were bolted on as race winners.

However, just two laps into his stint as the race approached its final three hours, Juncadella was seen entering the pits, and the No. 3 car was soon pulled into the garage as the mechanics scrambled to work on the issue.

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The longer the Mercedes spent in the garage the more clear it became that any chance of a victory had completely evaporated, with the No. 80 Team Ravenol Mercedes-AMG jumping into the lead.

In the end, Verstappen Racing finished the 2026 Nurburgring 24 Hours in P38, while Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller and Maxime Martin emerged victorious in the No. 80 Mercedes.

Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing boss, Stefan Wendl, later revealed that an ABS sensor issue led to vibrations for Juncadella and the drive shaft snapped, with reliability costing Verstappen Racing a maiden 24-hours race victory.

Russell congratulates Mercedes

Following the Nurburgring 24 Hours, Russell congratulated the No. 80 Mercedes-AMG winning team with his own post on social media.

Russell posted a series of four pictures from the weekend, one of which he was driving a yacht, the other posing with girlfriend Carmen Mundt in gym, another of just the Brit working out and a fourth of his dual screens, watching the Nurburgring and MotoGP races on his boat.

He wrote in the caption: "Great Sunday watching lots of racing, training and on the boat. Congrats to Mercedes-AMG on winning Nurburgring 24h."

Fans, however, couldn't resist teasing what they deemed to be Russell's 'shady' social media post in relation to Verstappen, where one replied: "Brother George on a full Max Verstappen hate watch?"

Another added: "George in his head, 'Whatever you say, do not mention the best F1 driver on the grid and his amazing performance on the Nordschleife until his car broke down. Do not mention him!'

A third directly accused Russell of hatewatching his F1 rival Verstappen, and wrote: "You were hatewatching nah."

Another interpreted the wording of the post as shady, and commented: "Is it kind of shady or am I just making that up?"

Finally, another fan referenced Verstappen's reliability issues, and wrote: "Pretty sure you watched for 20 hours without the thought of posting and suddenly you changed your idea."

F1 Max Verstappen George Russell Nürburgring 24 Hours of Nurburgring