New book reveals that George Russell intentionally used the media to instigate an attack on Max Verstappen at last year's season finale.

At the previous race, the Dutchman was handed a grid penalty after Russell was forced to take avoiding action during qualifying, the Briton describing the world champion's move as "dangerous".

Verstappen subsequently said he had lost all respect for the Briton, claiming that he had pushed for the penalty.

Adding to the fun, Toto Wolff and Christian Horner got involved.

The bad blood carried over to the season finale, where Russell launched an extraordinary tirade, accusing the four-time world champion of being a "bully", who was being allowed to "get away with murder".

Insisting that "somebody has got to stand up" to the Dutchman, who, Russell claimed, "cannot deal with adversity", and that "whenever anything is not going his way, he lashes out with unnecessary anger and borderline violence", the Mercedes driver said that Verstappen was not "someone I can respect" and "should be a better role model".

However, in his new book, Notes from the Pit Lane, Sky reporter Ted Kravitz reveals that Russell's comments were not exactly spontaneous.

"A week after Qatar, when Russell arrived at the Abu Dhabi track, he was in no mood to let the Verstappen situation lie," writes Kravitz. "I'd spent the day interviewing drivers at the TV pen, but hadn't yet heard any earth-shattering stories.

"A minute before his time slot, up strode George. He called me over to the edge of the pen, 'make sure you ask me a follow-up question'.

"'What do you mean?'" I asked.

"'I'm going to give it back to Max'," he replied. "'I've had enough of him bad-mouthing me in the press, and I'm going to call him out on his bullying tactics.

"I know you're only supposed to ask me one question, but never mind that, I'm up for as many questions as you like'.

"Before checking to see if he was wearing a Drive to Survive microphone, I asked him if he was absolutely sure he wanted to escalate what was effectively last year's story, and start a new fight with Max, never an easy battle to win. He said he was positive, and away he went."

Unbelievably, during his Abu Dhabi outburst, a straight-faced Russell told Kravitz: "I had no intention of bringing this up."