Russell slams ‘bully’ Verstappen after revealing Qatar crash threat

George Russell has slammed Max Verstappen’s criticisms of him as bullying tactics, after revealing the world champion threatened to “put me on my f*****g head in the wall” in Qatar.

Verstappen spoke out against Russell after last weekend’s race in Losail, saying he had lost all respect for the Briton for the way he behaved in a stewards’ hearing that resulted in him losing pole position for impeding.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the Dutchman doubled down on what he said, saying it was “shocking” what Russell did in trying to get him a penalty.

But Russell has not taken Verstappen’s comments lightly and said he will not accept remarks that he thinks are ‘disrespectful and unnecessary’ considering how he had been personally threatened last weekend.

Speaking to selected media including Motorsport.com, Russell said: “I find it all quite ironic, considering Saturday night he said he’s going to purposely go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, ‘put me on my f***ing head in the wall’.

“To question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find it 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.

“Jeddah ’21, Brazil ’21, he lashes out. Budapest this year, very first race, the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team.

“As I said, 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 steward’s room? You fight hard, but it’s never personal. But you know, he’s taking it too far now.”

Russell said he had no interest in discussing matters with Verstappen, as he questioned why other drivers have not been willing to speak out about the Dutchman’s tactics.

“I just don’t know why other drivers have when they’ve been in this battle with him, just sort of made it so easy and just let it be,” added Russell.

“Lewis is a world champion who I aspire to be like, and I think he is a gold standard of a role model that younger kids should be looking up to.

“And the way Lewis dealt with that championship fight, he was hard, he was aggressive, he was always respectful, and he never went beyond the line.

“You can go beyond the line in making a slight misjudgement, but going out of your way to say you will purposefully crash into somebody and put them on their head is beyond the line.”

Asked why he had chosen to speak out now, Russell said: “Because he’s come out in the media. I feel he 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….but we’ve got a guy who’s on the top of this sport and who feels he’s above the law. I don’t think that’s right.

“I admire his on-track battles, and when he is hard and aggressive. But what we saw at the end of the season in ’21, or what we saw in Mexico with Lando [Norris], they weren’t hard, aggressive manoeuvres. 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.”