Mercedes driver George Russell says Max Verstappen is a bully, claims he threatened him
Mercedes driver George Russell launched a scathing attack on Max Verstappen on Thursday. The drivers have been arguing since the Qatar Grand Prix last Sunday, a race which Verstappen won. Russell responded to Verstappen, who said that he had lost all respect for the Mercedes driver by calling the reigning champion a bully and saying Verstappen threatened him.
"I find his comments pretty ironic when he comes out and says I'm going to purposely crash into you, I'm going to put you on your fucking head in the wall. For me, that is unacceptable, and he's gone beyond the line here, and I'm not going to accept it," Russell said on Thursday. Verstappen denied making these comments to Dutch media outlets on Thursday.
The arguments between the two started after the qualifying session in Qatar last Saturday when Russell went into the stewards room to advocate for a penalty for Verstappen for impeding him. This led to a punishment of a one-place drop on the grid for Verstappen.
Verstappen reiterated his comments on Thursday in the driver's press conference, saying that he stands by them. "No regrets at all because I meant everything I said, and it's still the same," said Verstappen. "If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race result.
Russell said that Verstappen has had bullying behavior for years and believes somebody has to stand up against him before it gets out of control.
"I had no intention of bringing this up. He said this to me on Saturday night, and I woke up on Sunday morning feeling fine. But to come out of those press interviews saying that I'm two-faced, I'm the f-word, and this and that, he's taking this personal,” Russell added on why he has now brought the comments up.
The Mercedes driver also accused Verstappen of not being able to handle adversity. "Jeddah '21, Brazil '21, he lashes out. Budapest this year, very first race, the car wasn't dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team.”
Russell even went as far as to say Verstappen’s behavior is alienating people in his own team. “At the very first race that he wasn’t competitive, he was absolutely slamming his team, and I know for a fact that the week after a quarter of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston Martin.”
The argument has also reignited tensions between the Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, and Red Bull chief Christian Horner. The Red Bull boss had said after the race on Sunday that Russell achieved the penalty through “hysterics,” and claimed that the driver had been quite hysterical all weekend.
Wolff was angered by this, saying that he wanted to stay out of the argument as it is a thing between drivers until he heard Horner’s comments. How dare you comment on the state of mind of my driver,” the German said after claiming that Horner crossed the line.
Verstappen also responded to the news that the Dutch Grand Prix will be disappearing from the F1 calendar after 2026. "It's a shame that it won't continue, but I'm proud of what they have achieved," Verstappen said during the press conference in the run-up to the Abu Dhabi GP, the last race of the season. "When I started in Formula 1, I never thought we would ever go back to Zandvoort. To see all the fans there was great."
The last race of the F1 season will be on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Verstappen has already won the world title for the season, and Red Bull’s chances of winning the constructors title are very slim. Mercedes too, have nothing else to race for except for pride.
