Verstappen does not regret his comments about Russell
Following his brilliant victory at last Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix, Verstappen opened up about his off-track incident with George Russell, claiming that the Briton was desperately trying to "screw him over."
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 in the standard qualifying, 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.
Following the Lusail round, the four-time world champion revealed that he was surprised by Russell's behaviour in the stewards' room, 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."
Asked whether he had any regrets about anything he said about Russell, the Dutch driver went on to claim that he could have said even more if he had wanted.
"No regrets at all, because I meant everything I said. And it's still the same. 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. We even play sports together. You travel together.
"And of course, you have moments where you get together, you crash or whatever. You're not happy. 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."
