George Russell furiously hit back at Max Verstappen after the F1 world champion’s stinging criticism of him and declared that “someone needs to stand up to a bully like this”.
In a major escalation of the row between two of F1’s leading drivers over fallout from Verstappen’s one-place grid drop at last week’s Qatar Grand Prix, Mercedes’ Russell had his first say on the matter since the Red Bull driver launched a tirade against him following a race he ultimately won last Sunday.
Verstappen had said he had “lost all respect” for Russell and that the Mercedes driver had set out in the stewards room to get him a penalty for impeding him at the end of qualifying on Saturday.
Russell gave his own strong-worded response to Verstappen’s claims at the Abu Dhabi GP on Thursday.
“I find his comments pretty ironic when he comes out and says I’m going to purposely crash into you, I’m going to put you on your f****** head in the wall. For me that is unacceptable and he’s gone beyond the line here and I’m not going to accept it,” said Russell as he referenced alleged comments made by Verstappen to him after the stewards’ hearing last Saturday.
“So somebody’s got to stand up to a guy like this before it gets out of control.”
Red Bull declined to comment on Russell’s allegations about Verstappen when approached by Sky Sports News. Verstappen has denied the “put your head in the wall” remarks to Dutch media.
Asked what further steps he would want to see taken in the matter, Russell said: “I don’t want to go to the stewards’ office.
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A look back at some of the most heated clashes between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell.
“I had no intention of bringing this up. He said this to me on Saturday night and I woke up on Sunday morning feeling fine. But to come out of those press interviews saying that I’m two-faced, I’m the f-word, and this and that, he’s taking this personal.
“What happens on track is professional, what happens in the stewards is professional, and like Carlos [Sainz] said to him on Sunday morning ‘you would have done the exact same thing’ and on Sunday in the race he lifted for a yellow, Lando doesn’t lift for a yellow and he says to the team ‘check what Lando does’.
“That’s not personal against Lando, that is just racing.”
Russell also said he now too had lost respect for the four-time champion.
“I’ve known Max for 12 years. I respected him all this time but now I have lost respect him. We are 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.”
Verstappen doubles down on Russell criticism
Speaking in the Drivers’ Press Conference before Russell held his own media engagements on Thursday, Verstappen said he had not changed his mind about anything.
“No regrets at all because I meant everything I said, and it’s still the same,” said Verstappen.
“If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race result.
“I still can’t believe that someone can be like that in the stewards’ room. For me that was so unacceptable because, I mean we’re all racing drivers, we all have a lot of respect for each other, we even play sports together, you travel together.
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Max Verstappen remained frustrated with his Qatar grid penalty incident, saying he was ‘just trying to be nice’.
“And of course, you have moments where you get together, you crash or whatever and you’re not happy. In my whole career I’ve never experienced what I’ve experienced in the stewards’ room in Qatar, and for me that was really unacceptable.”
Drivers have to adhere to a minimum lap time on slow laps in qualifying and, while Verstappen was found to have gone too slowly on his final Q3 warm-up lap, he said that was because he was getting out of the way of two other cars.
Like Verstappen, Russell was on a preparation lap too but was travelling at a faster speed and then had to take to the kerb and gravel behind the Red Bull.
“I just never expected someone to really try and actively get someone a penalty that badly and lying about why I was doing about what I was doing but clearly it had an influence to them,” added Verstappen.
“It was just really not nice and actually really shocking what was going on there.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday December 6
5.45am: F1 Academy Practice
7am: F2 Practice
9am: Abu Dhabi GP Practice One (session starts at 9.30am)*
10.55am: F2 Qualifying
12.45pm: Abu Dhabi GP Practice Two (session starts at 1pm)*
2.30pm: F1 Academy Qualifying*
3.15pm: The F1 Show*
Saturday December 7
8.10am: F1 Academy Race One
10.15am: Abu Dhabi GP Practice Three (session starts at 10.30am)
12.10pm: F2 Sprint Race
1.15pm: Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying build-up
2pm: ABU DHABI GP QUALIFYING*
4pm: F1 Academy: Race Two
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday December 8
7.10am: F1 Academy Race Three
9.20am: F2 Feature Race
11.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Abu Dhabi GP build-up
1pm: The ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
3pm: Chequered Flag: Abu Dhabi GP reaction
4pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Watch the final race of the 2024 Formula 1 season – the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – live on Sky Sports F1, with Sunday’s race at 1pm. Get Sky Sports F1 or stream with NOW