Red Bull boss Christian Horner accused George Russell of “hysterics” as the fall-out between Max Verstappen and the British driver continued following the Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen celebrated his fourth world title by winning the race in Qatar but said afterwards that he had “lost all respect” for Russell after he was stripped of pole position the previous day.
The Dutchman was furious when he was penalised and Russell promoted to pole after stewards ruled he had impeded the Mercedes driver in the final phase of qualifying.
An angry Verstappen accused Russell of trying to “screw him over hard” and told him to “f--- off” in the during heated conversations in the stewards room.
In the end, the penalty did not matter as Verstappen cruised to victory and Russell finished fourth, but Horner was not impressed with how the penalty incident was handled by Mercedes.
“Yesterday’s penalty was more based on hysterics from George, who has been quite hysterical this weekend.” Horner said. “There was a little bit of gamesmanship going on in that.”
Verstappen also reportedly confronted Russell during the pre-race drivers parade at the Lusail International Circuit.
The Dutchman overtook Russell at the start of the race, while the Brit dropped back after a slow pit-stop.
Verstappen elaborated further in the official FIA press conference when asked about the incident.
“It wasn’t very enjoyable to see that happen. The thing is being nice, everything is more or less decided, I didn’t want to screw anyone over and by doing that, being nice, you get a penalty,” he said.
“That’s what I tried to explain but it felt like talking to a brick wall. I spoke about valid reasons. I didn’t want to cause a scene into that last corner, [it was] very surprising.
“I was quite surprised with what was going on, very disappointing. And I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my life with people I’ve raced – and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard.
“I lost all respect.”
