Verstappen hit out at Russell's behaviour in the stewards' room
Having bagged his ninth victory of the season, the now four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen has revealed that he "has lost all respect" for Russell after their discussion in the stewards' meeting room.
Following a low-key showing in Qatar F1 Sprint, Max Verstappen bounced back with an eye-catching performance in the main qualifying for Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix. The newly-crowned four-time world champion looked strong from the get-go, with Red Bull having made several tweaks to his RB20 following the sprint race.
The Dutchman needed a quick lap in the dying seconds of Q3 to beat George Russell, which he was able to deliver to secure his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix.
However, he was stripped of his pole position for a yellow flag incident. The Dutchman was upset by the decision, but he regained the lead at the start of the race, and did not let the victory slip through his fingers despite three safety car interventions.
Asked to comment on the one-place grid drop he received for "driving unnecessarily slowly" in the dying moments of qualifying, Verstappen said that he struggled to accept it.
"Honestly, I mean... I couldn't believe that I got it. But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I'm not surprised anymore in the world that I live in. So, yeah. You're not happy with it. But at one point or another, you have to just turn the page.
"But, yeah, 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 penalised. While, actually, I just tried to be nice. So maybe I shouldn't be nice. But the thing is that, you know, well, 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, you know, being nice, basically you get a penalty. And that's what I tried to explain as well. But I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall. So there's not much that was possible for whatever reason.
"Well, 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 tyres and stuff so they had to push anyway and I didn't want to then cause a scene into a last corner. and then, you know, no one had a lap. So very, very surprising."
Pushed on to reflect on the conversation in the meeting room, Verstappen was upset by Russell's behaviour, explaining that he has never seen someone trying to "screw someone over that hard".
"I was quite surprised when sitting there in the Stewards’ room, what was all going on. Honestly, very disappointing because I think we're all here, we respect each other a lot and of course, 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."
