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Laurence Edmondson, Senior Writer, F1
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Max Verstappen has labelled George Russell a loser and a liar as their war of words following last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix continues to escalate.
The world champion’s remarks came in response to Russell calling him a bully and alleging that Verstappen threatened to “put me on my f—ing head in the wall” at the start of the race in Qatar.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver denied he made those comments.
“That’s not true; I didn’t say it like that,” Verstappen said. “He’s exaggerating again.
“Do you know what I can’t stand? The way he attacks me unacceptably with the stewards and then acts like nothing happened the next day, patting me on the shoulder.
“I think, ‘Stay away from me.’ He invents all sorts of nonsense. With me, you always get the same: here, at home, with the stewards — I don’t change.
“You can’t say the same about everyone. But I’m not surprised by him.”
The roots of the row can be traced to an incident during qualifying in Qatar in which the two drivers nearly collided on their preparation laps.
Verstappen was investigated by the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly and both drivers were summoned to the stewards, where the Dutch driver claims Russell went out of his way to ensure a penalty was issued.
Verstappen was dropped one place on the grid, promoting his rival to pole position, and Russell claims it was after the steward’s investigation that the Red Bull driver made the threat.
On Thursday in Abu Dhabi, Russell labelled Verstappen a bully and said only his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton had ever stood up to Verstappen during their title battle in 2021.
“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 said.
“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.
“People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can’t question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity.”
When Verstappen was made aware of Russell’s comments, he responded: “Yeah, but George is a backstabber. The way he brings up all this nonsense — he’s just a loser.
“He lies and cobbles things together that don’t add up. I only voiced my opinion about his behavior with the stewards. Clearly, he couldn’t handle that.”
The opening practice session for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi will get underway on Friday.
Source: www.espn.com