ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Mercedes F1 driver George Russell said Red Bull’s Max Verstappen crashed into him and threatened to “plug you into the wall” following a hearing ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix. insisted. “People have been harassed by Max for years.”
Four-time world champion Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty in Qatar last week after Russell claimed the Red Bull driver had deliberately driven slowly in front of him during qualifying. The penalty dropped Verstappen behind Russell, who was promoted to pole position.
While Verstappen won the race, he “lost all respect” for Russell and later said in a meeting with the stewards that he had “never seen someone try to screw someone so hard.”
However, we spoke to some media outlets on Thursday, including: athleticAhead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Russell has responded publicly to Verstappen’s comments for the first time.
“I think this is all very ironic, given that on Saturday night he deliberately crashed into me and said, ‘I’m going to smash my head into the wall,’” Russell said. “So to say something like that the day before and question someone’s integrity as a human being is very ironic and I’m not going to sit here and accept that.
“People have been harassing Max for years and you can’t question his driving ability. But he cannot cope with adversity. Whenever something goes against him (Jada ’21, Brazil ’21), he lashes out. In the first race in Budapest this year the car was not dominant and crashed into Lewis (Hamilton) and hit his team. As I said, the comments about Saturday night and Sunday were completely rude and unnecessary.”
Red Bull declined to comment on Russell’s claims. athletic Ahead of publication.
Verstappen later responded to Russell’s comments during the regular Dutch media session held at the end of every Thursday. According to De Telegraaf, when the quote about putting Russell into the wall was relayed to Verstappen, he said: “That’s not true. I didn’t say that.” “You’re exaggerating again.”
Verstappen went on to call Russell a “slanderer” for his comments. “The way he spews this nonsense, he’s just a loser,” Verstappen said. “He lies and associates things that are not proper. I have expressed my opinion only about his behavior with the stewards. Obviously he couldn’t handle it.”
The pair spoke after the qualifying round in Qatar (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Russell said Verstappen had “gone too far” with his recent comments but said he was not interested in speaking to the Dutchman because “it’s a problem he has to solve”. He sought to set the record straight by characterizing what Verstappen said as a “personal attack.”
questioner athletic In a bid to clarify when Verstappen made the comments to him, Russell claimed the comments were made behind closed doors following the administrator’s hearing.
“(It) was personally delivered to me directly from the stewards,” Russell said. “He said, ‘I don’t know why you want to ruin me like this. I’m so disappointed in you. I wasn’t going to race you tomorrow and just let you pass, but now I’m going to pin you into the wall on purpose if I have to.’
“therefore… Like I said, I don’t understand why he’s so unnecessarily aggressive and violent.”
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The Verstappen and Russell feud broke out at F1’s special Abu Dhabi media day.
Before Russell’s quote was released publicly, Verstappen was asked generally in the pre-race press about his interactions with Russell after the hearing, and said “I have no regrets at all because I meant everything I said.”
“It’s still the same,” Verstappen said. “If I were to do it again, I think I would have said more knowing the outcome of the race. I still can’t believe there could be someone like that in the steward’s office.
“It was completely unacceptable to me. Because we are all racing drivers, we have a lot of respect for each other, we play sports together, we travel together and of course we get together and crash and have moments where we are not happy.
“In my entire career, I have never had an experience quite like the one I had in the Stewards’ Office in Qatar. And for me, that was really unacceptable.”
Russell’s comments come at the end of an F1 season in which Verstappen’s on-track behavior has been in the spotlight on several occasions. The most recent was at the Mexico City Grand Prix when the Dutchman was penalized twice for racing moves against Lando Norris.
Verstappen had previously been criticized for his actions on the track when fighting Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 world championship, with Russell citing incidents that occurred at that year’s Saudi Arabian and Brazilian Grands Prix.
Verstappen went on to win the Qatar race (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
“We have people at the top of this sport who think they are above the law and I don’t think that’s right,” Russell said.
“I admire his battle on the track and how hard and aggressive he is. But what we saw at the end of the 2021 season, or what we saw with Lando in Mexico, were not hard, aggressive maneuvers. They were ‘do or die.’ I’m willing to take this guy out,’ and I don’t think that’s the way we should go racing.”
Russell also claimed that he wanted to stand against Verstappen to set an example for future generations of drivers.
“I will not accept him throwing around these remarks or comments like they are nothing,” Russell said. “And we have to remember that we are the pinnacle of this sport. For example, this weekend at Mercedes we have two junior drivers here and they look up to us. That shouldn’t be the inspiration for the 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds we watch Formula One with.
“My 8-year-old nephew has just started go-karting and I am watching all the races. “It shouldn’t be like that.”
Russell spoke more about Verstappen in a media session scheduled for Mercedes’ hospitality department later that afternoon, and was unexpectedly joined by his team principal Toto Wolff.
Wolff took issue with comments his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner made about Russell’s behavior in the stewards’ office. Horner claimed Verstappen’s penalty on Sunday night was “based more on the hysteria of George, who was quite hysterical this weekend”.
Wolff said there was “always another side” to a penalty debate and it was the team principal’s duty to consider this with the drivers.
“If you don’t do that, you’re not doing your job properly,” Wolff said. “It’s just weak. After all, why does he feel entitled to comment on my driver? How does that work?
“But thinking about it, I spent 90 seconds thinking about it… barked the little terrier. “I always have something to say.”
When asked why he felt the need to talk to Russell, Wolff responded: “There is a problem between the drivers, this is George and Max. I don’t want to get involved in that. But when another team leader calls George, it’s hysterical. This is where he crossed a line for me.
“His forte is certainly not intellectual psychoanalysis, but that’s a really great thing to say. How dare you comment on my driver’s mental state?”
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Max Verstappen responds to Qatar qualifying penalty “I lost all respect”
(Top photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
