Max Verstappen "Loses All Respect" for George Russell After Qatar GP Stewards' Incident
Max Verstappen has expressed his frustration with George Russell following a tense qualifying incident at the Qatar Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver revealed that he "lost all respect" for the Mercedes-AMG F1 driver after both were summoned to the stewards' room post-qualifying.
The controversy stemmed from an altercation during their final laps of qualifying when Verstappen, attempting to build a gap to the cars ahead, slowed down at Turn 12. Russell, in turn, was forced to take evasive action to avoid Verstappen, leading to an investigation into whether the Red Bull driver had driven unnecessarily slowly.
Verstappen, who was penalized for the incident, was critical of the stewards’ response, stating that he tried to avoid interfering with other drivers’ preparations. He explained that he was being cautious to prevent disrupting the laps of others, but instead, he found himself penalized. Verstappen felt the stewards were unresponsive to his explanation and accused Russell of deliberately undermining him in his account of events.
"I couldn't believe I got the penalty," Verstappen remarked. "I tried to be considerate, but in the end, being nice got me a penalty." He added that the situation was especially frustrating because, in his view, Russell had tried to “screw him over” with his testimony.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner noted that Verstappen carried this frustration into the race, using it as motivation to pass Russell at the start. Despite the tension, Verstappen went on to deliver a dominant performance, securing an early lead in the race.
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