‘Put me on my f***ing head in the wall’: George Russell’s explosive Max Verstappen accusations

George Russell has accused Max Verstappen of threatening to deliberately crash into him, after the Dutchman refused to back down over his criticism of the Mercedes driver.

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Russell accused Verstappen of blocking him dangerously during qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix last week, a claim that resulted in a stewards’ investigation and Verstappen losing pole position to Russell.

The Red Bull driver said ahead of this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that Russell had lied to the stewards and that he had “no regrets” over his comments in Doha, when he said he had “lost all respect” for the Briton.

Russell hit back at Verstappen’s latest tirade, saying the four-time world champion was a bully who threatened to crash into him on purpose.

“I find it all quite ironic considering (that on) Saturday night he said he’s going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, ‘Put me on my f***ing head in the wall’,” said the Mercedes driver.

“So to question someone’s integrity as a person while saying comments like that the day before, I find very ironic.

“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 can’t deal with adversity.

“Whenever anything has gone against him… he lashes out. Budapest this year, the very first race his car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team.

“For me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary because what happens on track — and we fight hard — it’s part of racing… But he’s taken it too far now.”

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Russell expanded on the interaction in which the alleged threat was made, saying it was “to me privately, straight out of the stewards.

“He said, ‘I don’t know why you would want to screw me like this, I’m so disappointed in you. I was going to not even race you tomorrow, I was going to let you by, but not if I have to, I will purposely go out of my way to put you on your f***ing head in the wall’.

“So I don’t understand why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that regard.”

Russell also returned serve on the matter of losing respect.

“I’ve known Max for 12 years. I’ve respected him all of this time. But now I’ve lost respect for him,” he said.

“Because we’re all fighting on track and it’s never personal, now he’s made it personal. And someone needs to stand up to a bully like this. And so far, people have let him get away with murder.

“I honestly just want to set the record straight, to be honest. Because it’s just a total double standard that he has for the regulations, and just thinking that he is above everybody else.

“So it’s not me trying to assert my leadership style or anything. It’s just somebody has come out and said that I’m a two-faced motherf—er, and he’s entitled to his own opinions.

“But coming out and saying that publicly, and slamming me publicly, as I say, I’m just not going to accept it, and I’m going to tell people what the reality was.”

Verstappen went on to claim victory in Qatar from second on the grid alongside Russell who, he claimed, had persuaded the stewards to penalise him.

“I have no regrets at all, because I meant everything I said,” said Verstappen. “If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more!

“Knowing the outcome of the race, I still can’t believe that someone can be like that in the stewards’ room.

“For me, that was so unacceptable because, I mean, we are all racing drivers.

“We have a lot of respect for each other. We even play sports together, travel together… and, of course, you have moments where you get together and crash or whatever when you are not happy…

“I just never expected someone to really try and actively get someone a penalty that badly and lying about what I was doing, but it clearly had an influence on them.”

Verstappen claimed Russell’s account was not right, but asked to explain what he had actually said to Russell, he replied: “You don’t have to say everything that happened there. He tries to exaggerate it.”

Russell insisted he would not attempt to clear the air with his rival, saying it was Verstappen’s “problem to deal with”.

“You can go beyond the line in making a slight misjudgment, but going out of your way to say you’ll purposefully crash into someone and put them on their head is beyond the line.”