George Russell: ‘People Have Been Bullied By Max For Years Now’

The rivalry between Mercedes driver George Russell and reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen has reached boiling point following a controversial incident during last week’s Qatar Grand Prix. According to Russell, Verstappen made alarming threats, stating that he would intentionally crash into the British driver and “put [him] on [his] f—ing head in the wall.”

The incident in question occurred during the qualifying session, where Verstappen was penalized for blocking Russell, resulting in the Dutchman losing pole position and starting the race behind his rival. Despite the setback, Verstappen went on to win the race, but the animosity between the two drivers continued to simmer.

In post-race interviews, Verstappen made his feelings about Russell clear, declaring that he had “lost all respect” for the Mercedes driver. He accused Russell of putting on a friendly facade for the cameras while actively lobbying for Verstappen’s penalty behind closed doors in the stewards room.

Verstappen’s frustration with Russell was further evident in an interview with Dutch TV, where he labeled the British driver as two-faced. “You know what it is? He acts decent in front of the camera here, but when you talk to him personally, he is a different person … I can’t stand that. In that case you can better f— off,” Verstappen stated bluntly.

However, Russell told reporters ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that Verstappen has only told half the story…

“I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my f—ing head in the wall.

“So to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is 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, the 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, that’s part of racing. What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal. But he’s taken it too far now.

“[It was] to me privately, yeah, straight out of the stewards. He said, ‘I don’t know why you would want to screw me like this, I’m so disappointed in you. I was going to not even race you tomorrow, I was going to let you by, but now if I have to, I will purposely go out of my way to put you on your f—ing head in the wall.’ So, I mean… as I said, I don’t understand why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that regard.

“I honestly just want to set the record straight, to be honest. Because it’s just a total double standard that he has for the regulations, and just thinking that he is above everybody else.

“So it’s not me trying to assert my leadership style or anything. It’s just somebody has come out and said that I’m a two-faced motherf—er, and he’s entitled to his own opinions.

“But coming out and saying that publicly, and slamming me publicly, as I say, I’m just not going to accept it, and I’m going to tell people what the reality was.

“He pushes himself to the absolute limit week in, week out, and that is in 95% of the scenarios, is incredible to see. And I respect him for that 95%.

“But there have been incidents that have gone unpunished. Maybe that is why he thinks he can get away with murder. But that is not the world we live in, and actions have consequences.

“I’m not taking it anyway, to be honest. I’ll let you come to those assessments. You know, it can just keep going on like that. For me, it’s interesting, this whole regard with him and his own team.

“They’re doing their utmost to get [Christian] Horner out of Red Bull, but at the very first race that he wasn’t competitive, [Verstappen] was absolutely slamming his team, and I know for a fact the week after, a quarter of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston.

“So I don’t respect somebody who doesn’t appreciate those who have given him the chance to perform, because these last 12 races, he has had a car that is of normal competitiveness, and he’s been in the fight the same way as myself, Lewis, Charles, Carlos, Lando and Piastri have been. That’s how it should be.

“Again, I feel like we all need to lead by example here. He’s the biggest, most successful guy in the sport for the last couple of years. He can do what he wants in his own business, but when he starts throwing comments around like he did on Sunday night about me, I’m not just going to sit there and accept it.”