Max Verstappen, penalized with a grid place for obstructing George Russell during the Qatar Grand Prix qualifiers, expressed his anger towards the English driver, accusing him of hypocrisy, in front of the media.
Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, but the victory did not soothe him. After his ninth triumph of the season, the Red Bull driver reflected on Saturday’s qualifying session, and especially its aftermath: after obstructing George Russell (Mercedes) by driving too slowly, the four-time world champion was penalized with a grid place, despite having achieved pole position.
Before the verdict, both drivers had appeared before the race stewards, accompanied by representatives from their teams. It was here that Russell particularly irritated Verstappen. The Dutchman believes his opponent did everything to undermine him: “I was surprised and disappointed during our hearing in the stewards’ office,” he lamented at a press conference on Sunday evening. “I’ve been there often and I’ve never seen someone trying so hard to harm someone else.”
Verstappen claimed he was “just trying to be nice by driving slowly but apparently I shouldn’t have. But nothing surprises me in this environment anymore”. A sharp but polite criticism, at least within the context of a press conference, a place where the Dutchman now watches his words after some trouble due to language excesses.
“He’s always very polite in front of the cameras but…”
A little earlier, however, he had much harsher words on Dutch television Viaplay. “I respect a lot of drivers, but I’ve completely lost my respect for him,” Verstappen vented. “It was ridiculous that he wanted me to be penalized. I was very annoyed by that. You know, he’s always very polite in front of the cameras, but if you deal with him personally, he’s a completely different person. I can’t stand that. So he can go to hell, I don’t want to deal with him anymore.”
Once the penalty was announced, Verstappen found himself second on the grid behind Russell and, at that point, he was only thinking about one thing: “I couldn’t wait to be back in the lead after the first turn”. Which he did by getting a better start than the Englishman, who was never able to catch up and finished in 4th place.
