Max Verstappen doubles down on George Russell rant as feud continues at Abu Dhabi GP | F1 | Sport

Max Verstappen has doubled down in his rant at George Russell, explaining that he doesn’t take back his comments from the Qatar Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver even accused the Brit of ‘lying’ about his actions in the stewards’ room.

Russell successfully campaigned for a one-place grid penalty for the Dutchman after qualifying in Qatar, promoting him to pole position. By Turn Two on the opening lap, he had been shuffled back to third, but Verstappen wasn’t content, launching into a sensational rant after claiming his ninth Grand Prix win of the season.

“I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards’ room [about] what was all going on,” he said last weekend. “Honestly, [it was] 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 I’ve raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. And that for me… I lost all respect.”

Verstappen was asked if he wished to wheel back his comments, but instead doubled down. “No, no regrets at all, because I meant everything I said and it’s still the same,” he said in Abu Dhabi. “If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race result.

“I still can’t believe that someone can be like that in the stewards room. For me, that was so unacceptable, because we’re all racing drivers. We all have a lot of respect for each other. We even play sports together, you travel together.

“And of course, you have moments where you get together, you crash, or whatever, you’re not happy. In my whole career, I’ve never experienced what I have experienced in the stewards’ room in Qatar. And for me, that was really unacceptable.”

Russell’s side of the story was even more sensational. “I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘Put me on my fucking head in the wall’,” the Mercedes star fumed on Thursday.

“So to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is very ironic, and I’m not going to sit here and accept it. People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity.”