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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Mercedes F1 driver George Russell claims Red Bull’s Max Verstappen threatened to crash into him and "put you on your f***ing head in the wall" after their stewards’ hearing ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Four-time world champion Verstappen received a one-place grid penalty in Qatar last week after Russell claimed the Red Bull driver deliberately drove 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 said afterward that he had "lost all respect" for Russell and he had "never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard" in a meeting with the stewards.
But speaking to select media, including The Athletic, ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Russell responded publicly for the first time to Verstappen’s comments.
"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 said. "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."
Russell said that Verstappen had "taken it too far" with his latest comments but that he had no interest in speaking to the Dutchman as it was "his problem to deal with." He characterized what Verstappen said as a "personal attack" that prompted him to want to set the record straight.
Verstappen later responded to Russell’s comments in his regular Dutch media session, held at the end of each Thursday. According to De Telegraaf, when the quote about putting Russell in the wall was put to Verstappen, he said it was "not true, I didn’t say it like that. He’s exaggerating again."
Verstappen went on to say that Russell was a "backstabber" for his comments. "The way he brings up all this nonsense, he’s just a loser," Verstappen said. "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."
Russell spoke further about Verstappen in his scheduled media session at Mercedes’ hospitality unit later in the day and was joined unexpectedly by his team principal, Toto Wolff.
Wolff took issue with the comments made by his Red Bull counterpart, Christian Horner, about Russell’s actions in the stewards’ room. Horner claimed on Sunday night that Verstappen’s penalty "was more based on hysterics from George, who has been quite hysterical this weekend."
