Russell takes feud with “bully” Verstappen to the next level

The Verstappen-Russell feud is getting more and more entrenched with increasingly heated comments from both sides. After the Qatar GP, Max said that he had lost respect for Russell because of his theatrical behavior in front of the stewards which earned the Dutchman a penalty (of one place, which he resolved by overtaking him in the first corner of the race). The sanction was controversial. During Q3 in Losail, Verstappen surprised Russell because he was driving at a relatively slow speed during a cool-down lap for both, and the Mercedes visibly moved aside, although there was no real risk of an accident. For most drivers consulted, it was an unnecessary punishment.

On arriving in Abu Dhabi, the champion reaffirmed: “I have no regrets, I stand by everything I said and 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 a 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.

“And of course, you have moments where you get together, you crash or whatever. You’re not happy,” Verstappen added. “In my whole career, I’ve never experienced what I have experienced in the Stewards’ room in Qatar. And for me, that was really unacceptable. I didn’t expect that someone could insist so much on someone else being penalised and even lie about why I did what I was doing.”

Russell takes aim at Verstappen

However, it was Russell who hit back harshly: “I find it all quite ironic considering Saturday night he said he’d purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, “Put me on my f***ing head in the wall. So to question somebody’s integrity as a person while saying comments like that the day before, I find very ironic and I’m not going to sit here and accept it.”

The Englishman added: “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 is not going his way, he lashes out with unnecessary anger and borderline violence. We’ve seen it in Brazil in the past with [Esteban] Ocon, we saw it in ‘21, with Lewis then in Mexico with Lando - first race of the year in Budapest when he didn’t have the most dominant car, crashes into Lewis, slamming his whole team. That is not a guy who I respect”

He continued: “For me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary because what happens on track – we fight hard – it’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 cited compatriot Lewis Hamilton as an example of how drivers should behave: “Lewis is a world champion who I aspire to be like. And he’s the gold standard role-model that younger kids should be looking up to. The way Lewis dealt with that championship fight was exemplary. He was hard, he was aggressive, he was always respectful and he never went beyond the line.”

Verstappen was hospitalized after colliding with Hamilton during the British GP in 2021 for which the Brit received a 10-second penalty.

“Not the way to go about racing”

The Mercedes driver concluded: “I’m only speaking because he’s come out in the media, and I feel has disrespected me as a driver. I’ve known him for 12 years, we’ve had respect with one another beforehand. We’ve never had any collisions. In the junior categories, he was always one. Max is a year older than me, so we only crossed paths once, in 2011, but we never really had any sort of comings-together. But we’ve got a guy who’s on the top of this sport who feels he’s above the law, and I don’t think that’s right.

“I admire his on-track battles, and when he’s hard and aggressive. But what we saw in the end of the season in ’21 or what we saw in Mexico with Lando, they weren’t hard, aggressive maneuvers. They were, ‘Do or die – I’m willing to take this guy out.’ Which I don’t think is the way we should go racing.”