A conversation on Ziggo Sport about the FIA’s clampdown on the drivers swearing turned into a warning for George Russell that he’s going to get his “arse kicked”.

And it stems from Russell’s late-season war-of-words with Max Verstappen.

George Russell deserves a ‘yellow card’ says Gijs van Lennep

Last year there was some bite late in the season when Verstappen lost his pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix after being hit with a one-place grid penalty by the stewards following an incident with Russell late in Q3.

Although both drivers were on a slow lap as they built up for a final attempt, Russell was faster than Verstappen and had to take evasive action having closed in on the Red Bull driver faster than expected.

“Super dangerous by Verstappen,” was Russell’s complaint.

The two were summoned to the stewards, Verstappen leaving the room with a one-place grid penalty, and declaring: “It was honestly very disappointing, because I think all of us here, we respect each other a lot. I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my life and my career with people that I’ve raced. And I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. For me, I lost all respect.”

He later spoke of Russell “lying and putting things together” while the Mercedes driver revealed Verstappen had told him he was going to “put me on my f****** head in the wall”.

“So, to question somebody’s integrity as a person,” he added, “while saying comments like that the day before, I find is very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it.

“For me, those comments were totally disrespectful and unnecessary. Because what happens on track, we fight hard, that’s part of racing. What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal. But he’s taken it too far now.”

And so the verbal exchanged continued.

The two did subsequently speak after the race in Abu Dhabi, according to Verstappen, with the reigning World Champion telling Kleine Zeitung: “That’s okay, we’ll start again next year and that will be fine.”

But even if Verstappen and Russell are fine with letting it go, pundits believe it could linger in the background, waiting to flare up again.

Speaking on the ‘Langs de Vangrails’ programme on Ziggo Sport, two-time Le Mans winner and former F1 driver Gijs van Lennep began by talking about the FIA’s clampdown on the F1 drivers swearing.

“It’s a difficult problem. If it were up to me they can say anything, they just shouldn’t slander each other,” he said.

But then moving on to the topic of drivers slandering other drivers, he continued: “Look at Russell. You think, ‘that’s a nice guy without a beard, a neat guy’, in the meantime behind everyone’s back, that’s the biggest crook of all time.

“You should give that one a huge yellow card.

“He [Russell] behaves so nicely and thinks he is doing everything right and Max Verstappen is not.

“That’s the kind of guy I think they should tackle at some point. But he will get his arse kicked, you know. Formula 1 will be something this year…”

This isn’t the first time that Russell has been warned that he may have poked the wrong bull.

“[George] didn’t look the smartest guy there — to pick a fight with Max in front of the stewards, because Max milked that one,” former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner told the Red Flags podcast.

“And normally George is not that kind of guy.

“I believe in standing up to bullies, but let somebody else do the dirty work for you. I would have picked a fight with the stewards, not with Max Verstappen.