George Russell says Max Verstappen threatened to crash him throughout final week’s Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen was sad with Russell after the qualifying session. Russell felt he was impeded by Verstappen driving slowly after Verstappen had accomplished his qualifying lap and complained in a gathering with the stewards. Verstappen, who had certified first forward of Russell in second, was given a one-place grid penalty and dropped to second on the grid behind Russell.
Thursday in Abu Dhabi, Russell mentioned that Verstappen advised him after the stewards’ assembly that “he was going to purposefully exit of his strategy to crash into me and ‘put me on my f****** head within the wall.'”
“Individuals have been bullied by Max for years now, and you may’t query his driving skills. However he can not take care of adversity. At any time when something has gone in opposition to him — Jeddah ’21, Brazil ’21 — he lashes out. Budapest this 12 months, the very first race the automotive wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis [Hamilton], slamming his crew…
“For me, these feedback on Saturday evening and Sunday have been completely disrespectful and pointless. As a result of what occurs on monitor, we combat exhausting, that’s a part of racing. What occurs within the stewards’ room, you combat exhausting, but it surely’s by no means private. However he’s taken it too far now.”
Absolutely recounting the interplay between the 2, Russell added: “[He said it] to me privately, straight out of the stewards. He mentioned, ‘I don’t know why you’ll wish to screw me like this. I’m so dissatisfied in you. I used to be going to not even race you tomorrow, I used to be going to allow you to by, however now if I’ve to, I’ll purposely exit of my strategy to put you in your f****** head within the wall.’ So I don’t perceive why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that regard.”
Verstappen mentioned in Qatar that Russell was a special individual in private conversations than he was in entrance of the cameras and that “I can’t stand that.” He additionally mentioned that he had “misplaced all respect” for Russell for advocating for a penalty for Verstappen.
Verstappen gained the race in Qatar after he took the lead on the primary lap. Russell fell to 3rd on the opening lap behind Verstappen and Lando Norris and went on to complete fourth.
Verstappen wrapped up his fourth consecutive world championship on Nov. 24 in Las Vegas. That clinch got here two races after Verstappen had been penalized twice for the way in which he raced Norris, his closest title rival, within the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix.
