Max Verstappen says he “lost all respect” for George Russell for the way he pushed for a penalty to cost the Red Bull driver pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Russell came across Verstappen going slowly on the racing line as both drivers were preparing to start their final qualifying laps in Q3, and complained the pace differential between the two was “super dangerous.” The stewards investigated the incident because Verstappen was outside the maximum lap time permitted during qualifying — designed to stop drivers slowing down significantly on track — and handed the Dutchman a one-place grid penalty, stating the normal three-place drop was mitigated by the fact neither car was on a flying lap.
“Honestly, I mean… I couldn’t believe that I got it,” Verstappen said after being demoted from pole position to second on the grid. “But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I’m not surprised anymore in the world that I live in. You’re not happy with it, but at one point or another, you have to just turn the page.
“It wasn’t very enjoyable to see that happen, because I think that’s the first time that in a slow lap someone has been penalized. Actually, I just tried to be nice, so maybe I shouldn’t be nice! But the thing is that being nice, because at the end of the season everything is more or less decided, for me especially, I didn’t want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap. And by doing that, being nice, basically you get a penalty.
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“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 tires and stuff, so they had to push anyway and I didn’t want to then cause a scene into a last corner and then no one had a lap. Very, very surprising.
“I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards’ room, what was all going on. Honestly, very disappointing because I think … we respect each other a lot and I’ve been in that meeting room many times 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.”
Verstappen went on to overtake Russell into the first corner and win at Lusail International Circuit, but speaking to Dutch television he was even more scathing of the Mercedes driver.
“How it was handled from the other side, so to speak,” Verstappen told Viaplay. “The other driver in question, during that stewards meeting — that really didn’t make any sense. I think I have a lot of respect for a lot of drivers, but after last night I completely lost that with him. I just thought it was ridiculous how he wanted to give me a penalty for that case.
“He always acts very politely in front of the camera, but when you meet him in person, he’s just a different person. I find it very difficult to cope. Then you might as well just [explaetive] off.”