George Russell and Alex Albon were involved in a heated battle during the Italian Grand Prix last weekend, but not on the racetrack.
It was revealed by Formula 1 journalist Chris Medland on social media that Russell overtook the Williams driver in a tunnel under the circuit, when arriving at the venue.
“Racing drivers are always racing drivers: George Russell overtook Alex Albon out of the tunnel under the track when arriving this morning. He was very pleased with himself – saw a gap and took it,” Medland wrote on Twitter.
It appears that Albon wasn’t pleased to be overtaken by the Mercedes driver in what he deems as a “completely illegal” overtake.
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The Thai driver joked that he was hoping the police would notice but revealed that when they saw it was the King’s Lynn-born driver “they didn’t care”.
“It’s dirty tactics and completely illegal,” Albon told Speed City Broadcasting.
“I was kind of hoping the police would have seen it and call him out on it, but as soon as they saw it was George, they didn’t care.
“I tried to get him back, to be fair he put up a good defence.”
In a bid to get his own back, Albon revealed that racing for Mercedes has “gone” to Russell’s head.
Albon explained how the ex-Williams driver didn’t even park his car himself, something he left for his trainer to do.
“To expose George, he drops his car off at the entrance and then makes his trainer park the car for him,” Albon revealed.
“I think that just shows you the entitlement, and it’s just all gone to his head a little bit with this Mercedes stuff!
“I’m true to my man, I park my car and I walk in like a normal person.”
The pair are good friends and clearly had a good laugh at Monza, although they rarely saw each other during the race.
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Russell was alone for most of Sunday afternoon after being overtaken by Sergio Perez, with the Brit having finished in fifth.
Albon’s afternoon couldn’t have been any busier, as he was defending P7 for the entirety of the race, in a bid to score Williams some strong points.
Had it not been for Lewis Hamilton, Albon would’ve actually finished sixth, but had to settle for one spot lower.