George Russell’s explosive response to Max Verstappen’s ‘put my head in ‘f*****g wall’ threat

George Russell has revealed F1 rival Max Verstappen threatened to intentionally crash into him and “put my “f*****g head in the wall” in Qatar.

The bombshell revelation came during an extraordinary press conference attended by media including Crash.net in which Russell hit back at Verstappen’s public criticism of his conduct.

Four-time world champion Verstappen had said he “lost all respect” for the Mercedes driver over his role in the penalty the Red Bull driver received after qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Russell, who was joined by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff in an unusual display of solidarity, spoke at length about Verstappen, who he accused of resorting to bullying tactics.

“I've known Max for a long time. I know what he's capable of. And, you know, he said to me he's going to purposely go out of his way to crash into me, putting my f*****g head in the wall,” Russell said.

“I knew that was a bit of a heat of the moment thing but when I went to see him the next day at the driver's parade, when Checo was there, when Carlos was there, and we were joking around a little bit, I saw it in his eyes that he means it.

“And, you know, he's a four-time world champion. When I compare his actions to the ones of Lewis, Lewis is the sort of world champion who I aspire to be like. The way he fought Max in 21 is hard. Very hard, it's fair. But never beyond the line.

“I think we've also got a duty as drivers. I've got an eight-year-old nephew who's just started go-karting, who watches all of my races, watches TikTok, watches YouTube.

“And for a world champion to come out saying he's going to go out of his way to crash into someone and put them on their effing head, that is not the sort of role model we should be.”

Russell 'won't lose sleep' over fallout 

Asked by Crash.net if Russell would look to speak to Verstappen to clear the air, he replied: “I don't need to talk to him. I don't need to talk to him at all. There's nothing for me to say.”

Pushed on whether he thinks their relationship may be broken beyond repair, Verstappen responded to Crash.net: “I'm an adult. I'm not losing any sleep over it whatsoever. I know what Max is like. It's not the first time I've seen him like this.

“I've seen him like this as a 14-year-old in the go-kart paddock. So this is just me sharing and sharing what happened really on Saturday night.”

Russell insisted the intention behind the escalation of their row is not to get Verstappen punished, but simply to stand up for himself.

“I'm not looking to get Max penalised,” he said. “I’m not looking for any repercussion from this. I am standing up for myself.

“For a guy who's coming out, questioning my integrity as a person, slamming me in the press, and I just want to set the record straight. As I said, everybody's entitled to their own opinion.

“But, for me, he crossed a line at the weekend and that was too much. I have a thing about the swearing.”