Max Verstappen has escalated his criticism of George Russell, accusing the Mercedes driver of lying to FIA stewards following their Qatar GP clash.
Max Verstappen now accuses George Russell of lying to FIA stewards, delivering a fresh scathing attack on the Mercedes F1 driver following their controversy in Qatar.
During qualifying in Losail, Verstappen was found guilty by the stewards of driving unnecessarily slowly and blocking Russell, even though both were on out-laps. As a result, Verstappen received a grid penalty, losing pole position to Russell, and he later lashed out at the Briton in the stewards’ room, claiming to have lost “all respect” for him after the Red Bull driver won the race.
Asked about the incident ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen doubled down today, accusing Russell of lying to the stewards.
“I have no regrets at all because I meant everything I said.”
“If I had to do it again, I might have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race. I still can’t believe someone could be like that in the stewards’ room.”
“For me, it was so unacceptable because we’re all race drivers, we have a lot of respect for each other, we even do the sport together, we travel together, and of course, there are times when you end up together and crash or whatever else when you’re not happy.”
“In my entire career, I’ve never experienced what I went through in the stewards’ room in Qatar, and for me, it was really unacceptable.”
“It has nothing to do with him being the GPDA director, I just didn’t expect someone to really try to get such a serious penalty and lie about what I was doing, but it clearly had an impact on them.”
“It was simply not pleasant and actually very shocking what was happening.”
Clearly irritated, Verstappen also mocked, as Alonso had in recent days.
“I’m going to do my out-lap flat out. I’m going to act like I’m going to crash into everyone. I just didn’t understand. I didn’t even know why it was being judged. And then honestly, when I was there in the room, I was just trying to explain the story behind all of this. I was just trying to be nice.”
The Dutchman made sure to recall the facts.
“Of course, everyone slowed down ahead because there were quite a few cars trying to set up for their fast laps. I slowed down too, because I didn’t want to accelerate and ruin their preparation. Then, I saw someone flying into my rearview mirror, acting like the most dangerous thing had just happened and that they had nearly killed themselves or something. It was unbelievable. We were all on an out-lap, it wasn’t like anyone was on a fast lap.”
“When I was called by the stewards, I was very surprised because I didn’t really hinder anyone. I also think that on an out-lap, we all stay on our normal racing lines, because we’re all trying to avoid picking up rubber anyway. It’s not necessary when everyone is going slow. I don’t know how they reached that conclusion. For me, it was very disappointing because, in trying to avoid trouble, you end up putting yourself in a difficult situation.”
“I think at this point in the season, almost at the end, I don’t want to fight with anyone over these kinds of things. He comes up to me after qualifying, asking, ‘Why did you ruin my lap by starting your lap, what are you doing?’ I told him, ‘I don’t want to be in this position,’ but by doing that, George put me in the position where I had to go see the stewards.”
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Verstappen Doubles Down: Russell’s Lies at Qatar GP Verstappen Doubles Down: Russell’s Lies at Qatar GP