- Max Verstappen accused Mercedes star George Russell of being two-faced
- The world champion ignored Russell when he offered a first pump on Sunday
Max Verstappen had some ‘rude’ words for George Russell when he confronted the Mercedes man prior to the driver parade in Qatar, according to Ted Kravitz.
Verstappen originally took pole position for the penultimate race of the season, finishing 0.055s faster than Russell in qualifying.
However, a stewards’ investigation saw him lose the position to the Brit as he was deemed to have driven too slowly with Russell having to take action to avoid him.
Verstappen said he had lost all respect for George Russell on Sunday, accusing the British driver of being two-faced after a public staring match.
The world champion alleged Russell was hypocritical over the incident by giving a different story to the stewards from the one he gave to the media.
‘He always acts very nice here in front of the cameras,’ said Verstappen, who was adjudged to have impeded Russell in qualifying. ‘But when you’re in there it’s a completely different person. I can’t stand that.
Max Verstappen (R) reportedly had some ‘rude’ words for George Russell (L) in Qatar
Verstappen and Russell clashed after an incident during qualifying for Sunday’s race
‘I’ve been in that meeting room many times with people that I’ve raced. And I’ve never seen anyone trying to screw someone over that hard. I lost all respect. It was ridiculous how he tried to force a penalty, and I was heavily p*****.’
According to Marca, Verstappen also said to Dutch media: ‘He’d better go f*** himself, I don’t want to have anything to do with him’.
And Sky Sports pit-lane reporter Kravitz has given revealed more details about the confrontation between the two drivers.
‘On the drivers’ parade holding room, Max then confronted George,’ Kravitz wrote in his post-Qatar Notebook.
‘Still seething – as we’ve said, he uses that anger as motivation for his one-place grid drop – and said something along the lines of: ‘You and your FIA mates, I hope you’re happy with what you’ve done’. Or ‘your FIA buddies’.
‘I think the actual quote was rather ruder than that but I’m not going to say what it was but that seems to be the confrontation that Christian Horner referred to that it all got a bit tasty between them.’
Kravitz’s Sky F1 colleague Naomi Schiff was also a witness of the incident and joked that she wouldn’t be able to repeat what was said for fear of being punished.
Ted Kravitz revealed what Verstappen said to Russell but gave fans a less ‘rude’ version
‘I’m not going to repeat the words,’ Schiff said. ‘I don’t know if the FIA will give me a fine if I repeat the words!
‘I think Max had a word with George. I think he made the message very clear that he should watch his back.’