ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Mercedes F1 driving force George Russell claims Pink Bull’s Max Verstappen threatened to hit into him and “put you on your f***ing head in the wall” nearest their stewards’ listening to forward of the Qatar Lavish Prix and that “people have been bullied by Max for years now.”
4-time international champion Verstappen gained a one-place grid penalty in Qatar closing occasion nearest Russell claimed the Pink Bull driving force intentionally drove slowly in entrance of him all over qualifying. The penalty dropped Verstappen at the back of Russell, who used to be promoted to pole place.
Future Verstappen received the race, he mentioned later on that he had “lost all respect” for Russell and he had “never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard” in a gathering with the stewards.
However talking to make a choice media on Thursday, together with The Athletic, forward of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Russell spoke back publicly for the primary week to Verstappen’s feedback.
“I find it all quite ironic, seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my f***ing head in the wall,’” Russell mentioned. “So to question somebody’s integrity as a person while saying comments like that the day before, I find, is very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it.
“People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity. Whenever anything has gone against him — Jeddah ’21, Brazil ’21 — he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis (Hamilton), slamming his team … As I said, for me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary.”
Pink Bull declined to touch upon Russell’s allegations when approached through The Athletic forward of newsletter.
Verstappen nearest spoke back to Russell’s feedback in his usual Dutch media consultation, held on the finish of each and every Thursday. In step with De Telegraaf, when the quote about placing Russell within the wall used to be put to Verstappen, he mentioned it used to be “not true, I didn’t say it like that. He’s exaggerating again.”
Verstappen went on to mention that Russell used to be a “backstabber” for his feedback. “The way he brings up all this nonsense, he’s just a loser,” Verstappen mentioned. “He lies and cobbles things together that don’t add up. I only voiced my opinion about his behavior with the stewards. Clearly, he couldn’t handle that.”
The pair spoke nearest qualifying in Qatar (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto by means of Getty Pictures)
Russell mentioned that Verstappen had “taken it too far” together with his untouched feedback however that he had little interest in chatting with the Dutchman because it used to be “his problem to deal with.” He characterised what Verstappen mentioned as a “personal attack” that triggered him to wish to poised the document directly.
Requested through The Athletic to explain when Verstappen made the feedback to him, Russell claimed they had been made privately following the stewards’ listening to.
“(It was) to me privately, yeah, straight out of the stewards,” Russell mentioned. “He said, ‘I don’t know why you would want to screw me like this, I’m so disappointed in you. I was going to not even race you tomorrow, I was going to let you by, but now, if I have to, I will purposely go out of my way to put you on your f***ing head in the wall.’
“So, I mean… as I said, I don’t understand why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that regard.”
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Ahead of Russell’s quotes had been revealed publicly, Verstappen used to be requested usually in his pre-race press availability about his interplay with Russell following the listening to, to which he mentioned he had “no regrets at all” as a result of “I meant everything I said.”
“And it’s still the same,” Verstappen mentioned. “If I had to do it again, maybe I would’ve said even more, knowing the outcome of the race results. I still can’t believe that someone can be like that in the stewards’ room.
“For me, that was so unacceptable because, I mean, we’re all racing drivers, we all have a lot of respect for each other, we even play sports together, you know, you travel together, and of course, you have moments where you get together, you crash, you’re not happy.
“In my whole career, I’ve never experienced what I have experienced in the stewards’ room in Qatar. And for me, that was really unacceptable.”
Russell’s feedback come on the finish of an F1 season that had evident Verstappen’s on-track behavior positioned within the highlight on a couple of events, maximum lately on the Mexico Town Lavish Prix when the Dutchman used to be penalized two times for his racing strikes towards Lando Norris.
Verstappen prior to now confronted complaint for his movements on-track when preventing towards Lewis Hamilton, Russell’s Mercedes team-mate, for the sector championship in 2021, with Russell regarding incidents at that occasion’s Saudi Arabian and Brazilian Grands Prix.
Verstappen went directly to win the race in Qatar (Clive Mason/Getty Pictures)
“We’ve got a guy who’s on the top of this sport who feels he’s above the law, and I don’t think that’s right,” Russell mentioned.
“I admire his on-track battles and when he’s hard and aggressive. But what we saw in the end of the season in ’21 or what we saw in Mexico with Lando, they weren’t hard, aggressive manoeuvres. They were ‘do or die. I’m willing to take this guy out,’ which I don’t think is the way we should go racing.”
Russell additionally claimed he sought after to produce a be on one?s feet towards Verstappen to poised an instance for generation generations of drivers.
“I’m not going to accept him throwing remarks and comments around like this like they’re nothing,” Russell mentioned. “And we’ve got to remember that we are the pinnacle of this sport. This weekend for example in Mercedes, we’ve got two junior drivers here, they’re looking up to us. That is not what we should be inspiring into the eight-, nine-, 10-year-olds who watch Formula One.
“I’ve got my nephew, eight years old, just starting to get into go-karting and watches every race. That is not how it should be.”
Russell spoke additional about Verstappen in his scheduled media consultation at Mercedes’ hospitality unit nearest within the future and used to be joined abruptly through his staff foremost, Toto Wolff.
Wolff took factor with the feedback made through his Pink Bull counterpart, Christian Horner, about Russell’s movements within the stewards’ room. Horner claimed on Sunday evening that Verstappen’s penalty “was more based on hysterics from George, who has been quite hysterical this weekend.”
Wolff mentioned there used to be “always another side” in penalty debates and that it used to be the obligation of the staff foremost to believe that with their driving force.
“If you don’t do that, you’re falling short of your role,” Wolff mentioned. “It’s just weak. At the end, why does he feel entitled to comment about my driver? How does that come?
“But thinking about it, I’ve spent 90 seconds to think about it… Yapping little terrier. Always something to say.”
Requested why he felt the want to talk up with Russell, Wolff answered: “There is a thing between drivers, and this is George and Max, and I don’t want to get involved in that, but if the other team principal calls George hysterical, this is where he crosses a line for me.
“Now, his forte for sure is not intellectual psychoanalysis, but that’s quite a word. How dare you comment on the state of mind of my driver.”
(Manage photograph: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto by means of Getty Pictures)
