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George Russell has hit back at Max Verstappen, revealing the four-time world champion threatened to “purposely go out of his way to crash into me, put me on my head in the wall” at the Qatar Grand Prix last weekend.
Verstappen received a one-grid penalty at Lusail for driving too slow during qualifying, and later slammed Russell and accused him of intentionally fighting to get him penalised during the meeting with the stewards.
The Dutchman said he lost all respect for Russell, and called the Mercedes driver "two-faced". Verstappen reiterated his views during a press conference at Yas Marina Circuit on Thursday, saying he had “no regrets at all” over his comments.
“If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race result,” said the Red Bull driver. "I still can't believe that someone can be like that in the stewards’ room. For me that was so unacceptable.”
In a roundtable media session at the Mercedes hospitality villa in Abu Dhabi, Russell, joined by team principal Toto Wolff, responded to Verstappen’s statements, which Russell described as a “personal attack”.
“It’s funny because even before I said a word at the stewards, he was swearing at the stewards, he was so angry, before I’d even spoken,” said Russell.
“At the end of the day, there’s nothing to lie about. The facts were the facts. He was going too slow, he was on the racing line in the higher speed corner. I wasn’t trying to get him a penalty at all when I was on track, I was in pole position at this time, I was just trying to prepare my lap.
“And as drivers, you fight hard on the track, you fight hard with the stewards; the same way as Max the very next day asked his team to look at Lando’s (Norris) penalty through the yellow flag. That’s not personal Max to Lando, that’s just racing. And I do not see why he felt the need for this personal attack, and I’m not going to take it.”
The British driver added: “I never had the intention to throw Max under the bus like this, until he comes out and slams me so personally. This is not like, I’m angry with Max. This is me just setting the record straight. I’m not going to stand here watching some guy slam me personally as he has done.”
Russell revealed a heated conversation that took place between him and Verstappen in Qatar after qualifying and said the Dutchman swore at him and threatened to take him out.
“I’ve known Max for a long time and I know what he’s capable of. And he said to me he was going to purposely go out of his way to crash into me, put me on my ... head in the wall,” said Russell.
“I knew that was a bit of a heat-of-the-moment thing, but when I went to see him the next day at the drivers’ parade and Checo (Perez) was there and Carlos (Sainz) was there, and we were joking around a little bit, I saw it in his eyes that he means it.
“And you know, he’s a four-time world champion, but when I compare his actions to the ones of Lewis – Lewis is the sort of world champion I aspire to be like. The way he fought Max in ’21, it’s hard, very hard, it’s fair, but never beyond the line.
“And I think we’ve got a duty as drivers. I’ve got an eight-year-old nephew who’s just starting go-karting, he watches all of my races, watches TikTok, watches YouTube, and for a world champion to be coming out saying he’s going to go out of his way to crash into someone, put them on their head, that is not the sort of role models we should be.”
Wolff, who was not initially scheduled to take part in the media session, was asked if he believes the atmosphere around Verstappen at Red Bull has enabled the aforementioned behaviour.
The Mercedes boss took aim at his counterpart at Red Bull, Christian Horner, and described him as a “yapping little terrier”.
“As a team principal, it’s important to be a sparring partner for your drivers. And that means explaining that things can be more nuanced. Statements that are absolutistic, thinking that something is either 100 per cent right, or 100 per cent wrong, is just something I think you need to explain,” said Wolff.
“Things are more nuanced, depending on perception and your perspective. You need to allow for something to be 51-49, you need to allow for it to be 70-30. There is always another side. And maybe when you put it that way and you explain to your drivers and to your team, you come to the conclusion that there is truth in both sides.
“If you don’t do that, you’re falling short of your role, it’s just weak.
“Why does he (Horner) feel entitled to comment about my driver? How does that come? Yapping little terrier, always something to say.”
Russell put Verstappen’s actions down to what he believes is an inability to handle any adversity.
“I don’t know why this topic has got him so angry,” said Russell. “And like I said to you before, he cannot deal with adversity. He’s had the most dominant car in recent history for two and a half years. I’m not questioning his driving ability one single bit, but the second he doesn’t have the fastest car, let’s take Budapest as an example. He crashes into Lewis, he slams his whole team, and he loses the plot.
“Straightaway after that race, 25 per cent of the engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston Martin, because they said they can’t deal with a guy like that.
“And since Austria, he’s won the same number of races as six other drivers. So when you say, is Max beatable? Of course he’s beatable. When he’s the most dominant car, he is not beatable. The same way Lewis and I, when we have the most dominant car, in Silverstone, in Las Vegas, we’re not beatable either.”
Russell brought up Hamilton’s down-to-the-wire fight for the championship with Verstappen in 2021, which was ultimately decided in the last lap at the season finale in Abu Dhabi in controversial fashion.
“He’s been enabled because nobody has stood up to him. Lewis stood up to him in 2021, and Lewis lost that championship unfairly,” said Russell.
“Can you imagine the roles being reversed and Max losing that championship in the manner that Lewis lost that championship? Masi (Michael Masi, former F1 race director) would have been fearing for his life.
“As I said, some of the recent incidents he has been punished. And he punished himself – Mexico with the reckless overtakes, Budapest with the reckless overtake. But it’s just in the past he had such a dominant car, he’s not been in this position. So I think the FIA are pretty on it now and I don’t think much needs to change from their viewpoint. Because he’s going to punish himself one way or another.”
Verstappen, however, remained unapologetic about the turn of events.
"I never expected someone to actually try and get someone a penalty,” Verstappen said. “In my whole career, I've never experienced what I have experienced in the stewards’ room in Qatar.”
