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Max Verstappen strongly criticised George Russell for pushing for the qualifying penalty that cost him pole position for Formula 1’s Qatar Grand Prix, saying “I've never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard”.
Verstappen being demoted from first to second on the Lusail grid ultimately only mattered in terms of Verstappen’s pole numbers because he immediately overtook Russell at Turn 1 on the first lap on his way to winning Sunday’s race.
The penalty was given for driving unnecessarily slowly at a moment when Russell went off to avoid him even though neither was on a flying lap at the time.
And when asked on Sunday about both the penalty and Russell having pushed for it, Verstappen gave a flat-out response.
“I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards’ room, what was all going on,” said Verstappen.
“Honestly, very disappointing. Because I think we all respect each other a lot. And of course, I've been in that meeting room many times in my life and my career with people that I've raced and I've never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard.
“And I lost all respect.”
The incident was a peculiar one because both Russell and Verstappen were not on flying laps, and Verstappen felt he was trying to get out of the way of other cars as he knew he wasn’t going for a flying lap two corners later.
But Russell approached the kink heading to the final corner at a much higher speed because he was preparing for a flying lap, and had to go off track and even wondered if he’d got floor damage and if the reason for Verstappen beating him initially in qualifying was because of the incident.
“Honestly, I couldn't believe that I got it [the penalty], but in a way, I was also like, ‘yeah, I'm not surprised anymore in the world that I live in’,” added Verstappen.
“Yeah, you're not happy with it, but at one point also you have to just turn the page.
“It wasn't very enjoyable to see that happen. Because I think that's the first time that in the slow lap, someone has been penalised.
“Well, actually, I just tried to be nice. So maybe I shouldn't be nice, but the thing is that because we're at the end of the season, everything is more or less decided, for me especially I didn't want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap.
“And by doing that, being nice, basically you get a penalty, and that's what I tried to explain as well. But I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall.
“So there's not much that was possible for whatever reason.
“I think I really spoke about valid reasons for what happened, and it was clear cut that around me there were different scenarios going on as well, with people having colder tyres and stuff, so they had to push anyway, and I didn't want to then cause a scene into a last corner and then no one had a lap.
“So very, very surprising.”
The Race says
Jack Benyon
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I can't understand why Verstappen is so upset here.
I wasn't in the room, so I don't know exactly what was said by Russell.
But ultimately, in basically every session and certainly every grand prix, every driver is trying to stitch another up with a penalty by pointing out things they have done, on the radio or immediately after the sessions.
At least Russell did this in front of Max, in person!
Verstappen himself - when he should have been focusing on his own race pace, and the safety of himself and other competitors, by concentrating - was trying to get Lando Norris penalised for not slowing down under a yellow flag during the Qatar GP.
Perhaps Verstappen feels he has a duty of care to point that out in case it happens again from a safety aspect. But it's much more likely a quest for a competitive advantage at the loss of a rival.
Norris even said Verstappen was right to complain and do this!
Maybe the way Russell campaigned for Verstappen to get a penalty - and let's remember we weren't in the room and Russell hasn't addressed this in detail yet - really was enough to warrant this reaction from Verstappen and irked him.
But otherwise, to me, it just looks like what Russell did is another form of something that Verstappen does in any race he feels it necessary.
Is it really any different: giving what you believe is an honest answer to a steward who requires you to, versus complaining on the radio about what someone has done?
I'm not so sure.
