Last weekend's Qatar Grand Prix was a turbulent race on and off the track. Max Verstappen was handed a rare one-place grid penalty for driving “unnecessarily slowly” during a warm-up lap during qualifying on Saturday, mitigated by the fact it was not a practice lap. push, which would have meant the usual three-place grid position.
The stewards ruled that Verstappen had impeded George Russell, and with Verstappen's penalty they both changed positions in Sunday's race. It ultimately didn't matter much, as Verstappen overtook Russell on the opening lap, who finished 4th.
It was Russell who complained to the stewards about the actions of Verstappen, who “couldn't believe” Russell was “trying to screw him” after an action he thought he was “trying to be nice.”
“Actually, I was just trying to be nice, so maybe I shouldn't be. I didn't want to screw someone over to prepare for their lap. And in doing that, being nice , basically you have a penalty.”
Verstappen has 'lost all respect' for George Russell
The already four-time F1 world champion took Russell's complaints very badly, even declaring “I've never seen anyone try to screw someone over like that”, after Russell insisted to the stewards that Verstappen be penalized, which led to them taking this very unusual penalty.
“And that, for me, I lost all respect” he declared.
Verstappen went further on Dutch television Viaplay, saying “he acts politely on camera here, but when you talk to him personally, he's a different person….I can't stand that”, as showed ESPN.
