Yahoo Sports F1's George Russell Claims Max Verstappen Threatened to Crash into Him and 'Put My Head in the Wall'
The Formula 1 drivers dished on their seeming feud, which escalated at the Qatar Grand Prix last week
Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty; Mark Sutton/Getty
It’s an F1 feud, with an emphasis on the f-word!
Drivers George Russell and Max Verstappen are speaking out in the wake of an incident in Qatar in which the Mercedes driver accused the Formula 1 champ of threatening him.
"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 f---ing head in the wall,'" Russell, 26, told reporters, according to ESPN.
The two landed in the stewards room during qualifying after the British racing driver blocked the Dutchman. Verstappen, 27, lost pole position for the race, but he ultimately ended up winning anyway.
Afterwards, the two engaged in a back-and-forth in which Verstappen claimed Russell was acting duplicitous.
"You know what it is? He acts decent in front of the camera here, but when you talk to him personally, he is a different person,” Verstappen said. “I can't stand that. In that case you can better f--- off."
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All of which made Russell double down on his claim about Verstappen’s behavior.
"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,” Russell said.
He continued, "People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can't question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity.”
Verstappen experienced little of that in Las Vegas last month, where he won his fourth world championship.
Before the race, he spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about his pre-race rituals.
"I normally never really like to think about it too much and just let it go and see what happens," he said, when asked about the possibility of winning it.
A few hours later, Verstappen was seen enjoying a champagne celebration at the Red Bull Energy Station.
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