F1 news: Max Verstappen lost respect for George Russell in Qatar

Max Verstappen slammed Mercedes driver George Russell after yesterday’s stewards’ meeting, which ended with him losing his pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix.

Speaking to the media, the Red Bull driver, who still secured victory, said (translated by X):

“The way he behaved was completely ridiculous. I have respect for everyone, but I lost it in front of him. I thought it was ridiculous how he wanted to give me a penalty. I was pretty mad at him about that too.

“He’s very nice on camera, but off camera he’s a completely different person. I can’t stand this, you might as well get out of here. I don’t want anything to do with that.”

Verstappen added:

“I have been to the stewards many times. I’ve never seen a driver try so hard to screw another driver over.”

Stewards carried out a detailed assessment of the incident, taking into account evidence from telemetry data, multiple camera angles and in-car video footage. While typical moves of this type warrant a penalty of three places on the grid, Verstappen was spared the harsher penalty and instead suffered a penalty of one place on the grid because neither driver was on a final lap.

The stewards noted:

“Stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), the driver of Car 63 (George Russell) and team representatives and reviewed positioning/maneuvering system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

“Car 1 had a different preparation strategy than car 63. Car 1 was well outside the delta and the driver of car 1 stated he had let cars 4 and 14 pass. The driver of car 63 claimed he complied.” He said that if a car was traveling slowly on a high-speed curve, it should not be on the racing line.

“The stewards view this case as complicated in that vehicle 1 clearly did not adhere to the race director’s event instructions and, in our opinion, obviously drove unnecessarily slowly given the circumstances.”

“It was obvious that the driver of Car 1 was trying to cool his tires. He could also see car 63 coming when he looked in his mirror several times on the small straight between turns 11 and 12.”

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
3. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
4. George Russell, Mercedes
5. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
6. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
7. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
8. Zhou Guanyu, Clean
9. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
10. Lando Norris, McLaren
11. Valtteri Bottas, Sauber
12. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
13. Yuki Tsunoda, VCARB
14. Liam Lawson, VCARB
15. Alex Albon, Williams
16. Nico Hülkenberg, Haas – DNF
17. Sergio Perez, Red Bull – DNF
18. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin – DNF
19. Franco Colapinto, Williams – DNF
20. Esteban Ocon, Alpine – DNF