Max Verstappen hits out at George Russell for “lying”: “I meant everything that I said”

Max Verstappen has refused to backtrack on any of the criticism he had towards George Russell for the role that he played in his penalty during the F1 Qatar Grand Prix weekend.

Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty after qualifying at the Lusail International Circuit.

The stewards felt that Verstappen had been driving unnecessarily slow while getting in the way of Russell.

The verdict was surprising given there’s no historic precedent for handing out penalties for driving too slowly plus Russell wasn’t on a fast lap at the time.

Verstappen was irked by Russell’s involvement in getting him a penalty, hitting out at his rival after the race in Qatar.

Verstappen stated that he had lost any respect he had for Russell and was bemused by the penalty.

Speaking in the FIA press conference in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, where Crash.net are present, Verstappen said he had “no regrets” about his comments.

“No, no regrets at all because I meant everything that I said,” he said. “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 results.

“I still can’t believe that someone can be like that in the stewards’ room. For me, that was so unacceptable because we’re all racing drivers, we all have a lot of respect for each other. We play sports together. You travel together. Of course, you have moments where you get together, crash or you’re not happy.

“In my whole career, I’ve never experienced what I have experienced in the stewards’ room in Qatar. For me that was really unacceptable.”

Verstappen accuses Russell of “lying”

Verstappen dismissed suggestions that Russell’s role of head of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association played a role in the penalty.

However, the four-time world champion accused Russell of “lying”.

“It’s nothing to do with him being a director of the GPDA,” he added. “I just never expected someone to really try and actively get someone a penalty that badly. 

“Lying about why I was doing what I was doing. Clearly, it had an influence to them. It was just really notice and very shocking what was going on.”