George Russell has hit back at Max Verstappen following the world champion’s stinging criticism last weekend, stating that “somebody has to stand up to the guy.”
The Dutchman hit out at the Mercedes driver after last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, in which Verstappen was demoted one-place in qualifying after allegedly blocking Russell on a slow lap.
Russell claps back
Russell spoke to ESPN saying that Verstappen said he would hurt him during the race after leaving the steward’s room. “I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘Put me on my f*****g head in the wall’,” Russell said.
“So, to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it. People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity.
“Whenever anything has gone against him, he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis [Hamilton], slamming his team ... As I said those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary. Because what happens on track, we fight hard, that’s part of racing. What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal. But he’s taken it too far now.”
Russell had taken back-to-back pole positions but couldn’t follow up his Las Vegas heroics with victory in Qatar, whereas Verstappen took the lead from the Mercedes driver at the start and never looked back to take his first win in the dry since the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
Russell added: "I knew that was a spur of the moment thing, but the next day, we were joking around a bit with (Sergio) Perez and Carlos (Sainz), I saw it in his eyes that he meant it.
"He's a four-time champion. Lewis (Hamilton) is the champion I aspire to be - hard but fair; never beyond the line. We have a duty as drivers.
"For a world champion to come out and say he is going to go out of his way to crash into someone and put him on his head, that is not the example we should be setting."
Verstappen responds
Verstappen didn't take Russell's accusations lying down and delivered an explosive response of his own on the Mercedes man's comments.
He told Dutch outlet Telegraaf: “Yes, but George is a bully. That he brings all this stuff in. He's just a loser.
“He lies and pastes all kinds of things together that are not true.
“I only gave my opinion about his behaviour with the stewards. He's clearly not into that.
“What he said about 2021, that's how it went down with the stewards. He insinuates a lot of things that don't make sense.”
Verstappen also took umbrage with Russell saying that he said he'd drive him into a wall.
He added: “That's not true, I didn't say it like that. He's trying to exaggerate it again. Do you know what else I can't stand?
“That he attacks me in an unacceptable way with the stewards and then comes back a day later as if nothing is wrong and slaps me on the shoulder.
“Then I think: stay away for a while. He makes up all kinds of things that aren't true.”
Verstappen continued: “With me, you always get the same: here, at home, with the stewards; I don't change.
“You can't say that about everyone. But I'm not surprised by that with him.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff attended his drivers press conference and criticised Red Bull team principal Christian Horner for calling Russell "hysterical", saying this "crossed a line".
Wolff said: "Why does he feel entitled to comment about my driver? If you're thinking about it, yapping little terrier, always something to say.
"His forte is not intellectual psychoanalysis, but that's quite a word. How dare you comment on the state of mind of my driver."
The pair won’t have to wait long to sort their differences out on track, with practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix set to start at 9:30 GMT tomorrow.
