Russell accuses Verstappen of "cross the line" and believe "above the law"

The British George Russell (Mercedes) accused this Thursday the Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) of “crossing the line” and believing himself “above the law”, after the stewards’ hearing for an incident between the two in the session. classification in the Qatar Grand Prix, reports the Formula One World Championship website on the eve of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Both drivers were summoned by the stewards last Saturday night when Verstappen was investigated for driving unnecessarily slowly in Q3 of the qualifying session, while Russell claimed he had been hindered by the four-time world champion.

The Dutchman received a penalty of one place in the starting lineup, which relegated him to second position on the grid, while Russell was promoted to pole position. Verstappen took victory in Qatar, while the Englishman finished in fourth position.

In the post-race press conference Verstappen declared that he had “lost all respect” for the Mercedes driver. “I’ve been in that (stewards’) meeting room many times in my life, in my career, with people I’ve raced with, and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone so hard,” Verstappen said. “And that for me… I lost all respect,” he added then.

Russell said on Thursday: “For me, we fight hard on the track, we fight hard in the stewards’ room and it’s never personal. It’s part of racing, but the words he said are totally unnecessary. He’s crossed a line and I’m not going to accept it, so someone has to stand up to someone who thinks they are above the law.

“We entered the stewards’ room. For the first five minutes I didn’t say a word because they were only talking to Max and he was already angry, insulting the stewards, and when they asked me for my opinion I told them exactly the facts,” said the English.

“I was following my ‘delta time’; we all have this lap time that we have to follow. They also say that if you are slow you have to go off the line. I was not trying to penalize Max, since at that point in qualifying I was in first position, I don’t even think Max was in second position at that time,” he added.

“I was just trying to prepare my lap. He was 20 seconds too slow on his lap, he was parked in the middle, and I didn’t argue with the marshals. But Max was very angry because I didn’t support him, because he expected me to say: ‘No problem, What Max did was good,'” Russell explained.

“It wasn’t crazy dangerous. Was the penalty harsh? Maybe it was a little harsh, but that’s the rules. We all have the rules and we all have to follow them. I would have liked to go 20 seconds slower on my warm-up lap to have tires ready, but I didn’t do it,” he added.

Russell added that he went “to talk to him on Sunday morning.” “There were Max, Checo (Pérez), Carlos (Sainz) and I. We almost laughed, but I could see in his eyes that he was angry, and the words he said were serious. For me it was very surprising. I haven’t been able to get him to They almost get the feeling that he expects a double standard and that if it doesn’t go his way there’s no way, and that’s not how this sport works.