Russell reveals extraordinary Verstappen threat as feud escalates

George Russell has claimed Max Verstappen threatened to "put me on my fucking head in the wall" as their Qatar feud escalates. 

Verstappen was stripped of pole at Lusail after stewards found he had driven unnecessarily slowly and impeded Russell despite both being on a cool-down lap, with a one-place grid penalty being applied, handing Russell pole. 

Verstappen claimed he had lost "all respect" for Russell after winning the race, and doubled down in Abu Dhabi, even accusing Russell of lying to the stewards. 

Putting forward his side of the story, Russell has made an extraordinary claim about what Verstappen threatened to do at Turn 1, where he muscled past the Mercedes.

"I find it all quite ironic, considering Saturday night he said he's going to purposely go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, "put me on my fucking head in the wall," Russell is quoted as by Motorsport.com. 

"To question somebody's integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find it 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 whenever anything has gone against him.

"Jeddah '21, Brazil '21, he lashes out. Budapest this year, very first race, the car wasn't dominant, crashing into Lewis, slamming his team.

"As I said, for me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary, because what happens on track, we fight hard. It's part of racing.

"What happens in the steward's room? You fight hard, but it's never personal. But you know, he's taking it too far now."

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Russell attacks Verstappen

When asked why he had chosen to speak out against Verstappen now, Russell described how he felt Verstappen felt he "was above the law."

"Because he's come out in the media. I feel he has disrespected me as a driver," he added.

"I've known him for 12 years. We've had respect with one another beforehand. We've never had any collisions, but we've got a guy who's on the top of this sport and who feels he's above the law. I don't think that's right.

"I admire his on-track battles, and when he is hard and aggressive. But what we saw at the end of the season in '21, or what we saw in Mexico with Lando [Norris], they weren't hard, aggressive manoeuvres.

"They were do or die: 'I'm willing to take this guy out.' Which I don't think is the way we should go racing."