‘Bully’ Max Verstappen threatened to ‘put my f***ing head within the wall’ and purposefully crash into me, George Russell claims, as Dutch champion accuses Brit of LYING in large Formula 1 feud

George Russell has claimed that ‘bully’ Max Verstappen told him he would, ‘Put me on my f****** head in the wall.’

The British driver was providing his side of events after the world champion called him two-faced for the evidence he gave to the stewards in Qatar last Saturday night.

Verstappen was furious at being demoted a place after taking pole position for driving ‘unnecessarily slowly’ as they prepared for their final flying laps in qualifying, though he claimed the lead at the start and won the race.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi ahead of this weekend’s concluding race, Russell hit back, saying: ‘I find it all quite ironic considering Saturday night he said he’d purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, “Put me on my f***ing head in the wall”.

‘So to question somebody’s integrity as a person while saying comments like that the day before, I find very ironic.

‘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. Whenever anything has gone against him, Jeddah ‘21, Brazil ‘21, he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team.

George Russell has claimed that ‘bully’ Max Verstappen told him he would, ‘Put me on my f****** head in the wall.’

Max Verstappen has not let up in his criticism of Mercedes’ George Russell, following a controversial incident involving the pair in Qatar

Verstappen produced an emphatic drive to win the Grand Prix, while Russell fell down the order to fourth

‘For me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary because what happens on track – we fight hard – it’s part of racing. What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal.

‘But he’s taken it too far now.’

When asked if he was planning to speak to Verstappen to clear the air, Russell said: ‘I’ve got no interest in talking to him about it because I don’t have any interest in making amends because I think it’s his problem to deal with and I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.’

Russell questioned why other drivers don’t stand up to Verstappen, with the exception of his outgoing Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton during their bitter title fight that concluded here in Abu Dhabi in 2021.

‘I just don’t know why other drivers, when they’ve been in this battle with him, have made it so easy and just let it be.

‘Lewis is a world champion who I aspire to be like. And he’s the gold standard role-model that younger kids should be looking up to. The way Lewis dealt with that championship fight was exemplary. He was hard, he was aggressive, he was always respectful and he never went beyond the line.

‘You can go beyond the line in making a slight misjudgement, but going out of your way to say you’ll purposefully crash into someone and put them on their head is beyond the line.’

Earlier, Verstappen had continued his astonishing attack on Russell by claiming that he had lied to stewards over the controversial incident. 

‘No, no regrets at all because I meant everything I said, and it’s still the same.’ The Dutchman said on Thursday. ‘If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more. 

‘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, we travel together.

‘Of course, you have moments where you crash or whatever and you’re not happy. But in my whole career I’ve never experienced what I’ve experienced in the stewards’ room in Qatar, and for me that was really unacceptable.

‘I just never expected someone to really try and actively get someone a penalty that badly, and lying about why I was doing what I was doing.

‘It was just really not nice and actually very shocking.’