Max Verstappen now accuses George Russell of lying to FIA commissioners, in a scathing new attack on the Mercedes F1 driver following their controversy in Qatar.
In qualifying at Losail, Verstappen was found guilty by the stewards of driving unnecessarily slowly and blocking Russell, even though both drivers were on launch laps.
For this, Verstappen received a one-place grid penalty, losing pole to Russell, and lashed out at the Briton for his actions in the stewards’ room, claiming he had lost “all respect” for Russell after the Red Bull driver won the race.
Asked about the incident before the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen did it again today and accused Russell of lying to the stewards.
“I have no regrets at all, because I meant everything I said.”
“If I had to do it again I might have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race I still can’t believe someone could be like that in the stewards room.”
“For me it was so unacceptable because I mean we are all racing drivers, we have a lot of respect for each other, we even do sports together, you travel together and of course you have times when you get together and crash or whatever when you’re not happy.”
“In my entire career, I have never experienced what I experienced in the commissioners’ room in Qatar, and for me it was really unacceptable.”
“It has nothing to do with him being the director of the GPDA, I just didn’t expect someone to actually try to get such a serious penalty and lie about what I was doing , but it clearly had an influence on them.”
“It was just not pleasant and actually very shocking what was happening.”
Very irritated, Verstappen also joked like Alonso in recent days.
“I’m going to do my warm-up lap hard. I’m going to act like I’m going to collide with everyone. I just didn’t understand. I didn’t even know why it was judged. And honestly , when I was there in the room, I was just trying to explain the story behind it, I was just trying to be nice.”
The Dutchman wanted to recall the facts.
“Of course, everyone slowed down in front, because there were quite a few cars that wanted to go for their fast lap. I slowed down too, because I didn’t want to speed up so as not to ruin their preparation. Then, I saw someone flying in my rearview mirror, acting like the most dangerous situation had just happened and they almost killed themselves or something It was amazing We’re all in a slow ride, that n. It’s not even like anyone’s in on the trick fast.”
“When I was called by the marshals, I was very surprised because I didn’t really bother anyone. I also think that on a slow lap we all drive on our normal lines, because we all try not to pick up gumdrops anyway. It’s not necessary when everyone is driving slowly. I don’t know how they came to this conclusion because. that in fact, by trying to avoid trouble, you get yourself into trouble.”
“I think at this point in the season, almost towards the end of the season, I don’t want to fight with anyone over that kind of stuff. He comes up to me after qualifying and says, ‘Why did you ruin my turn to start my turn, what are you doing.” I said to him, “I don’t want to put myself in this position,” but by doing that, George put me in this position where I had to go see the commissioners.”
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