Mercedes driver George Russell has responded to world champion Max Verstappen’s comments, in which Verstappen claimed to have “lost all respect” for Russell.
Verstappen was displeased with Russell’s involvement in a penalty that demoted him from pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Speaking at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Thursday, Russell said, “I don’t know why he felt the need for this personal attack and I’m not going to take it. This is me just setting the record straight; I am not going to stand here and let someone slam me personally.”
Russell recounted an incident after qualifying in Qatar, where Verstappen allegedly swore and threatened to “purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and put me on my head in the wall.” Although Russell initially thought it was said in the heat of the moment, he noted that Verstappen seemed serious when joking with other drivers the next day.
“He’s a four-time champion. Lewis [Hamilton] is the champion I aspire to be—hard but fair; never beyond the line. We have a duty as drivers. For a world champion to come out and say he is going to go out of his way to crash into someone and put him on his head, that is not the example we should be setting,” Russell added.
In response, Verstappen told Dutch publication De Telegraaf that Russell is a “backstabber” and “a loser,” accusing him of lying and exaggerating the situation. Verstappen denied Russell’s claims that he threatened to deliberately crash into him, saying, “That’s not true. I didn’t say it like that. He’s trying to exaggerate it again.”
