George Russell has accused Max Verstappen of threatening to deliberately crash into him during the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver hit back at his rival as a bitter war of words broke out over the penalty which cost Verstappen pole position for last weekend’s race.
Verstappen was given a one-place grid penalty for obstructing Russell prior to their final flying laps at the Losail International Circuit. The Red Bull driver later accused Russell of “lying” in the stewards’ meeting.
Russell rejected Verstappen’s claim. “What he was doing was pretty clear,” he told Sky. “He was going too slow and he was on the racing line. We all have the rules to follow and he didn’t follow it.”
The Mercedes driver said his rival has crossed a line by making their fight a “personal” matter.
“I’ve known Max for 12 years. I’ve respected him all of this time. But now I’ve lost respect for him.
“Because we’re all fighting on track and it’s never personal, now he’s made it personal. And someone needs to stand up to a bully like this. And so far, people have let him get away with murder.”
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Russell said other drivers called Verstappen out for complaining about another driver reporting a rival for breaking the rules.
“Like Carlos [Sainz Jnr] said to him on Sunday morning, you would have done the exact same thing. On Sunday in the race, he lifted for a yellow [flag], Lando [Norris] doesn’t lift through a yellow. And he says to the team, ‘check what Lando does’. That’s not personal against Lando, that is just racing.”
Verstappen has a track record of overreacting to incidents and needs to be confronted over them, Russell believes. “He cannot deal with adversity. Whenever anything is not going his way, he lashes out with unnecessary anger and borderline violence.
“You’ve seen it in Brazil in the past with Ocon. You saw it in ’21 with Lewis and then Mexico with Lando. The first race of [this] year, in Budapest, when he didn’t have the most dominant car, crashes into Lewis, slamming his whole team. That is not a guy who I respect. And I wish he would be a better role model.”
“I find his comments pretty ironic when he comes out and says ‘I’m going to purposefully crash into you, I’m going to put you on your fucking head in the wall,” Russell added. “For me, that isn’t acceptable. And he’s gone beyond the line here, and I’m not going to accept it. So somebody is going to stand up to a guy like this before it gets out of control.”
Russell said he had no intention of complaining about Verstappen’s conduct until he was attacked in public. “I don’t want to go to the stewards,” he said. “I had no intention of bringing this up.
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2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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