UPSET: Russell & Verstappen
BY ALAN BALDWIN
Max Verstappen says he “lost all respect” for Mercedes rival George Russell after being stripped of pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen won Sunday’s 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.
Russell was promoted to pole position after stewards gave Verstappen a one-place grid drop for driving unnecessarily slowly during qualifying.
Stewards said the case was complicated, but agreed that Verstappen was going too slow on a cool down lap when Russell, who described the scene as “super-dangerous”, suddenly came up behind him.
Verstappen explains: “I couldn’t believe that I got it [the one-place drop] ...
“I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my life, in my career, with people who have raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. And that for me… I lost all respect.”
Related Topics: