George Russell has revealed Max Verstappen threatened to crash into him due to his vexation at his rival’s role in him being penalised at Formula 1‘s Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen was incensed last weekend as he was stripped of pole position when the stewards determined that he had impeded Russell’s Mercedes during qualifying.
But the Dutchman was more irritated with Russell’s conduct, expressing he had “lost respect” towards the driver that he claimed lobbied the stewards to penalise him.
Verstappen has doubled down on those remarks at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, citing that he harbours “no regrets” about his comments and he “would have said more”.
However, Russell has branded Verstappen’s words as “disrespectful” as he labelled it “ironic” that his behaviour was being questioned based on the threat he received.
“I find it all quite ironic, considering Saturday night he said he’s going to purposely go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, ‘put me on my f***ing head in the wall’,” Russell told media including Motorsport Week.
“To question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find it 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, 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, because what happens on track, we fight hard. It’s part of racing.
“What happens in the steward’s room? You fight hard, but it’s never personal. But you know, he’s taking it too far now.”
Asked whether he intended to speak with Verstappen, Russell replied: “I don’t need to talk to him at all. There’s nothing for me to say.”
Russell questions silence over Verstappen antics
Russell admitted he was bewildered that other drivers involved in clashes with Verstappen have not chosen to speak out about his approach to battling competitors.
“I just don’t know why other drivers have when they’ve been in this battle with him, just sort of made it so easy and just let it be,” he continued.
“Lewis is a World Champion who I aspire to be like, and I think he is a gold standard of a role model that younger kids should be looking up to.
“And the way Lewis dealt with that championship fight, he was hard, he was aggressive, he was always respectful, and he never went beyond the line.
“You can go beyond the line in making a slight misjudgement, but going out of your way to say you will purposefully crash into somebody and put them on their head is beyond the line.”
Pressed on his decision to speak out now with one race remaining in 2024, Russell replied: “Because he’s come out in the media. I feel he has disrespected me as a driver.
“I’ve known him for 12 years. We’ve had respect with one another beforehand.
“We’ve never had any collisions….but we’ve got a guy who’s on the top of this sport and who feels he’s above the law. I don’t think that’s right.
“I admire his on-track battles, and when he is hard and aggressive.
“But what we saw at the end of the season in ’21, or what we saw in Mexico with Lando [Norris], 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.”
READ MORE – Max Verstappen has ‘no regrets’ criticising George Russell’s ‘unacceptable’ behaviour in Qatar
