The animosity between George Russell and Max Verstappen doesn't look likely to subside anytime soon. And Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson has provided evidence to suggest any tension between the nemeses is very much the real deal.
It first came to light in early December that Mercedes star Russell and Red Bull rival Verstappen were "kept apart" at a dinner organised by Lewis Hamilton.
Russell, 26, recently expressed his distaste for the Dutchman's lack of decorum after claiming Verstappen threatened to "put his f*****g head in the wall" following an argument at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen, 27, said he had "lost all respect" for his Silver Arrows counterpart, and it appears the feeling is mutual.
However, Lawson has now shed new light on what transpired behind the scenes when the pair were almost sat next to one another at Hamilton's dinner.
"It's crazy how many messages I've had about this, people are really curious. I'll tell you, then we can decide [what] to put in [the podcast], because this is f*****g funny," said the New Zealander on a recent episode of the Pitstop podcast. "It's really funny.
"So we rock up, we're at this big table, me and Yuki [Tsunoda] got there together. But as the table was filling up, that side of the table was pretty much all full.
Opposite me was Max, and then there was, like, three chairs to the left at this end of the table, and George hadn't arrived yet.
So we were like, 'This is perfect, we're just going to save that spot right next to Max for him.'
"Then George arrived, and we were all like, 'Hey!' and greeted him. Then Max said, 'Mate, we've saved a seat for you.'
And George just picks up the chair and walks to the other side of the table with Lewis at the other end of the table. We were all like, 'Oh my god.'
We thought this was going to be funny, but it wasn't funny. Well, kind of funny for us."
Lawson, 22, then clarified there was no dialogue between Russell and Verstappen at all as the atmosphere remained frosty:
"Nothing. Nothing at all. He went around the whole table first to greet everyone and we thought when he came back he would sit next to Max. But he only came back to take that seat."
The latest major rivalry to hit F1 looks set to endure as drivers begin preparations for the 2025 season.
And it appears neither Russell nor Verstappen will be on one another's Christmas card list this year.
Lawson - who will replace Sergio Perez as Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate in 2025 - sounds glad he's not involved in any way.
However, he'll be expected to have Verstappen's back on the track in the near future.
The youngster replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB midway through this season and secured two point-scoring finishes from his six races in total.
He'll be expected to make a considerable jump in standards as he debuts for Red Bull next year - and he'd wise not to get on Verstappen's bad side.
