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Verstappen has lost respect for Russell: 'Then f*** off'
- Cas van de Kleut
Max Verstappen has lost his respect for George Russell, he told reporters that after the Qatar Grand Prix. The Dutchman did not like the way the Mercedes driver acted during the meeting with the stewards. Verstappen was given a one-place grid penalty on Saturday night for impeding the British driver.
After the race, Verstappen again said he could not believe he had received the grid penalty: "But in a way, I was also like, I'm not surprised anymore in the world that I live in. Not happy with it, but at one point also you have to just turn the page.
"I didn't want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap. By doing that, being nice, basically you get a penalty. That's what I tried to explain as well. But I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall. There's not much that was possible for whatever reason. I think I really spoke about valid reasons of what happened and it was clear cut that around me there were different scenarios going on as well with people having colder tyres and stuff."
Next, Verstappen said, "I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards room what was all going on. Honestly, very disappointing because I think we're all here, we respect each other a lot. I've been in that meeting room many times in my life in my career with people that I've raced, and I've never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. For me, I lost all respect." The driver Verstappen was talking about was George Russell, as the Briton was the one who also had to report to the stewards' meeting.
"Yes, I just thought it was ridiculous how he foisted a penalty on me," Verstappen told also talked Viaplay about the incident. "And I was already heavily pissed for that as well."
Finally, Verstappen was asked if he would have a word with Russell. He answered: "Not for a while yet. But you know what the thing is? He always acts very nicely here in front of the camera, but then when you're sitting there in person with him, he's just a different person. And I can't stand that. Then you better just f*** off, because I don't need to talk anything out with you."
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sárközi
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