George Russell has revealed that 'A quarter of Max Verstappen's engineering team' was applying for jobs at Mercedes, Aston Martin and McLaren after the Dutchman's outburst at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Russell and Verstappen are locked into a war of words after the Red Bull driver labelled his rival two-faced after an altercation in the stewards' room at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Offered the chance to reply to Verstappen ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Russell launched into an incredible rant, defending himself and calling out the four-time world champion's attitude.

One of Russell's complaints pertained to the Dutchman's treatment of his team at the Hungarian GP, where he was criticised for swearing repeatedly at race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and lambasting Red Bull's strategy.

“It can’t just keep going on like that," Russell fumed. "For me, it’s interesting, this whole regard with him and his own team. They’re doing their utmost to get Horner out of Red Bull, but at the very first race that he wasn’t competitive, he was absolutely slamming his team.

"And I know for a fact the week after, a quarter of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston [Martin].

"So I don’t respect somebody who doesn’t appreciate those who have given him the chance to perform, because these last 12 races, he has had a car that is of normal competitiveness, and he’s been in the fight the same way as myself, Lewis [Hamilton], Charles [Leclerc], Carlos [Sainz], Lando [Norris] and [Oscar] Piastri have been. And that’s how it should be.

“I feel like we all need to lead by example here. He’s the biggest, most successful guy in the sport for the last couple of years. He can do what he wants in his own business, but when he starts throwing comments around like he did on Sunday night about me, I’m not just going to sit there and accept it.”

Verstappen, for his part, refused to back down, reiterating his loss of respect for Russell and explaining that he "would have said even more", had he been given the chance to revisit the Qatar chaos.