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'I lost all respect for Russell': F1 champ Verstappen
Alan Baldwin • December 2nd, 2024 3:00 pm
Photo: F1
Max Verstappen says he has "lost all respect" for Mercedes rival George Russell after being stripped of pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen won Monday's (NZ time) race from second place but Red Bull's quadruple Formula One world champion was still fired up by what had gone on when they were together in the stewards' room a day earlier.
"I couldn't believe that I got it," he said of the rarely applied one-place grid drop for driving unnecessarily slowly in the final phase of qualifying and impeding Russell.
"But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I'm not surprised anymore in the world that I live in."
Verstappen, whose victory was his first since clinching the title in Las Vegas a week earlier, said he had been trying to be nice and not wanting to mess up anyone else's lap with his championship already won.
"I didn't want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap. And by doing that, you know, being nice, basically you get a penalty," the Dutchman added.
"And that's what I tried to explain as well. But I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall ... I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards' room, what was all going on.
"I've been in that meeting room many times in my life, in my career, with people that have raced and I've never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. And that for me ... I lost all respect."
