Max Verstappen claims to have lost all respect for George Russell after the qualifying race of the Qatar Grand Prix. Max and George were summoned to the race stewards following an incident that led to him not finishing in the pole position. Max blamed Russell for the incident and claimed the Mercedes driver intentionally tried to screw him over.
Max Verstappen was about 0.055 seconds ahead of George when the incident took place. The incident led to Max falling a position down while Russell finished fourth in the grid. It did not go well with the Red Bull driver who gave his perspective about the moment in the press conference after the race stewards.
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Max about George: "I've been in the meeting room [stewards] many times in my career, I've never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard, and then I lost all the respect."pic.twitter.com/97ot3Iuczm
— Verstappen News (@verstappenews) December 1, 2024
Speaking to the media, the star driver claimed that it was disappointing to see someone like George Russell trying to screw him over. Max said he has himself been a part of the race stewards in the past due to several incidents. However, Verstappen claimed that he had never seen someone who tried to screw him over.
'Maybe I shouldn’t be nice' - Max Verstappen
"Honestly, very disappointing because I think we’re all here, we respect each other a lot and, of course, I’ve been in that (race stewards') 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," said Verstappen.
Max claimed to have lost all the respect he had for the Mercedes driver following the incident. He felt said to have bagged a penalty in a slow lap. Verstappen claimed that he was probably a bit too nice and felt he must probably change his approach and be aggressive against his opponents.
"For me, I lost all respect. I think that’s the first time that in a slow lap, someone has been penalized. Actually, I just tried to be nice. So maybe I shouldn’t be nice," added Verstappen. Russell bagged a five-second penalty for staying far behind the car during the car safety period.