Max Verstappen criticised George Russell following his Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix triumph, stating he had “lost all respect” for the Mercedes driver, Afrosport reports.
Verstappen was hit with a one-place grid penalty for driving slowly and blocking Russell during Saturday’s qualifying session at the Lusail International Circuit.
This took pole position from the Red Bull driver but it did little to hurt his race as he took the lead away from Russell on the opening lap into the first corner en route this ninth victory of his fourth-straight championship-winning season.
“Honestly, I mean… I couldn’t believe that I got it,” Verstappen said per Crash.net reflecting on the race weekend. “But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I’m not surprised anymore in the world that I live in. So, yeah. You’re not happy with it. But at one point or another, you have to just turn the page.
“But, yeah, it wasn’t very enjoyable to see that happen, because I think that’s the first time that in a slow lap someone has been penalised. While, actually, I just tried to be nice.
“So maybe I shouldn’t be nice. But the thing is that, you know, well, being nice, because at the end of the season, everything is more or less decided, for me especially, I didn’t want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap.
“And by doing that, you know, being nice, basically you get a penalty. And that’s what I tried to explain as well. But I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall. So there’s not much that was possible for whatever reason.
“Well, I think I really spoke about valid reasons of what happened and it was clear cut that around me there were different scenarios going on as well, with people having colder tyres and stuff so they had to push anyway and I didn’t want to then cause a scene into a last corner and then, you know, no one had a lap. So very, very surprising.
“And then the second part of the question. Yeah, I was quite surprised when sitting there in the Stewards’ room, what was all going on. Honestly, very disappointing because I think we’re all here, we respect each other a lot and of course, I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my life, in my career with people that have raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. And that for me… I lost all respect.”
A win that takes Max Verstappen past 3,000 career points! 📈
He remains third on the all time list, behind Hamilton and Vettel.#F1 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/O8f5uG0VAX
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 1, 2024
Russell finished fourth after a slow pit stop coupled with a lack of race pace in his Mercedes.
The 2024 F1 season of will conclude with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend
