Max Verstappen has doubled down on his criticism of George Russell following their altercation after Qatar Grand Prix qualifying.
Verstappen and Russell usually loved cordial relations to date, however that modified on the Qatar Grand Prix when Verstappen felt Russell was attempting to sew him up in entrance of the FIA race stewards and land the Dutchman a penalty for impeding him whereas on a warm-up lap throughout Saturday’s qualifying session.
Verstappen ended up with a one-place penalty, which noticed him lose his pole for the grand prix to the Mercedes driver. However he then retaliated on Sunday by making a greater begin than Russell and taking the lead, earlier than happening to assert his ninth grand prix victory of the season.
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Afterwards Verstappen mentioned he had misplaced all respect for Russell for the way in which he was actively attempting to get the Dutchman in bother, along with his staff boss Christian Horner labelling Russell as “fairly hysterical” over the Qatar difficulty.
Requested in Abu Dhabi if pressure had cooled and Verstappen thought any in another way about his row with Russell, the four-time world champion as an alternative doubled down on his criticism.
“No, no regrets in any respect, as a result of I meant the whole lot I mentioned and it is nonetheless the identical,” Verstappen mentioned on Thursday. “If I needed to do it once more, perhaps I’d have mentioned much more, realizing the result of the race outcome.
“I nonetheless cannot imagine that somebody may be like that within the stewards room. For me, that was so unacceptable, as a result of we’re all racing drivers. All of us have a whole lot of respect for one another. We even play sports activities collectively, you journey collectively.
“And naturally, you’ve got moments the place you get collectively, you crash, or no matter, you are not completely satisfied. In my complete profession, I’ve by no means skilled what I’ve skilled within the stewards’ room in Qatar. And for me, that was actually unacceptable.”
Pole man Max Verstappen, Purple Bull Racing, George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Workforce, speak in Parc Ferme
Photograph by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Photographs
Verstappen claimed Russell was “mendacity” to the stewards about what he was doing on the outlap, with the Dutchman explaining he was simply attempting to remain out of bother now he already has the world championship within the bag on the finish of an extended season.
“It is nothing to do with him being the director of the GPDA,” he mentioned. “I simply by no means anticipated somebody to actually attempt to actively get somebody a penalty that badly and mendacity about why I used to be doing what I used to be doing. However clearly it had an affect on [the stewards]. It was simply actually not good and truly very stunning what was happening there.”
Talking in regards to the incident, Verstappen added: “All the pieces slowed up in entrance, as a result of there have been fairly just a few automobiles, and I slowed down as properly as a result of I do not wish to then velocity up and attempt to break their preparation as properly.
“Then I see somebody flying in my mirror, appearing like essentially the most harmful state of affairs simply occurred and he nearly killed himself or one thing. It was unbelievable. And we’re all on a sluggish lap, it isn’t even like somebody was on the quick lap.
“I do not know the way the [stewards] got here to that conclusion. By really attempting to remain out of bother, you place your self in bother. And likewise at that time of the season I do not wish to be combating with anybody once they come to me after qualifying saying: ‘Why did you break my lap. What are you doing?’
“I do not wish to put myself in that place. However principally, by doing that, I put myself in that place the place I needed to go to the stewards.”
On this article
Filip Cleeren
Formulation 1
Max Verstappen
George Russell
Purple Bull Racing
Mercedes
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