George Russell has dismissed Max Verstappen’s complaints that he was too aggressive during their opening lap tussle in the Sprint race in Azerbaijan.
The Mercedes driver got the jump on Verstappen at the start and eventually nosed his way ahead on the exit of Turn 3 but not without contact occurring between the pair.
The touch left a big hole on the side of Verstappen’s RB19 and led the Dutchman to engage in a post-race altercation of words with Russell to remonstrate his frustrations.
However, Russell believes Verstappen would have raced the same way he did if the roles were reversed in their first lap encounter.
“I was down the inside, and as a driver, you know the risks being on the outside,” Russell told Sky Sports after the Sprint. “I am here to fight. I am here to win, and I am not going to hold back because he is leading the World Championship.
“I am quite surprised that he was still trying to hold it out around the outside on a street circuit, and he has a lot more to lose. None of the contact as intentional.”
“I was doing my best to have a clean fight, and as I said I was surprised he was resisting the position. I was surprised by why he was so angry to be honest. He still finished the race in P3.
“It’s a difficult situation, and he has enough experience and knows that if you are going to overtake a guy on the outside. There is a risk that the car on the inside will run wide into you. I don’t think anything would be different if the positions were reversed”.
He added later on: “There was a lot of f’s from his side, but from my side it was my corner. I was on the inside, and I am quite surprised that he was resisting it. I am here to fight, and the move was on.
“In go-karts when you are on the inside, it’s your corner. You know the risks you are taking.
“We are all here to fight and not crash into one another. We know the limits. He has a lot more to lose then me. He could have just waited one more lap to get past me with their speed.”
Verstappen eventually got back past the Mercedes upon a Safety Car restart, but the two-time champion was unable to overtake Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari for second with his heavily damaged car.
Meanwhile, Russell was unable to live with the Red Bulls and came home a distant fourth, citing the Austrian outfit’s straight-line speed as being too strong to contend with.
But the Brit, who will start a lowly 11th on Sunday after a disappointing Friday qualifying, is confident that Mercedes can challenge Ferrari in race trim during tomorrow’s race.
“The feeling within the car was good,” Russell admits. “We just don’t have enough speed.
“Max passed me like I was stood still. We know how fast their car is. To our calculations, we can take the rear wing off and they will still be faster than us down the straight.
“We honestly don’t know how they are doing it. They probably have a trick up their sleeves. So, kudos to them. We have a lot of work to do. We feel we have better race pace than Ferrari.”
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