Verstappen says he has lost all respect for Russell

Doha — Max Verstappen says he had “lost all respect” for Mercedes rival George Russell after being stripped of pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Verstappen won Sunday’s race from second place but Red Bull’s quadruple Formula One world champion was still fired up by what had gone on when they were together in the stewards’ room a day earlier.

“I couldn’t believe that I got it,” he said of the rarely applied one-place grid drop for driving unnecessarily slowly in the final phase of qualifying and impeding Russell. “But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I’m not surprised any more in the world I live in.”

Verstappen, whose victory on Sunday was his first since clinching the title in Las Vegas a week earlier, said he had been trying to be nice and not wanting to mess up anyone else’s lap with his championship already won.

“I didn’t want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap, and by doing that, you know, being nice, basically you get a penalty.

“That’s what I tried to explain as well, but I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards’ room, what was all going on,” he added.

“I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my life, in my career, with people that have raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard, and that for me, I lost all respect.”

The Dutch driver also told Viaplay TV Russell “always does it very nicely here in front of the camera, but then when you’re inside with him in person, it’s just a different person”.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports TV on the grid before the start that Verstappen was “wound up”.

Verstappen passed Russell at the first corner and then battled Lando Norris until the McLaren driver was given a harsh 10-second stop and go penalty for excessive speed while yellow flags were waved.

“To be honest, I was expecting a crash, but ultimately we made it easy for him,” Russell told reporters after finishing fourth.

“We know Max is a fighter and is aggressive, I expect no different, and I really wanted to go out there and fight with him today [Sunday], like we could have done in the sprint,” added the Mercedes driver.

Reuters