Russell lands ‘Masi fearing for his life’ Verstappen dig as tensions rise

George Russell says Max Verstappen “cannot deal with adversity” and if he was “unfairly” denied the title like Lewis Hamilton was in 2021, Michael Masi “would have been fearing for his life”.

A severe war of words has erupted between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell following heated exchanges in Qatar, stemming from a Q3 incident where Verstappen picked up a one-place grid penalty – costing him pole – with Verstappen left enraged, feeling Russell had resorted to “lying” amid efforts to trigger a penalty.

George Russell unleashes Abu Dhabi 2021 dig on Max Verstappen

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Verstappen reportedly approached Russell ahead of the Qatar GP drivers’ parade to vent his frustrations, and Russell has claimed that Verstappen threatened to “put me on my f**king head in the wall” when they met in the stewards’ room.

The way that tensions flared surprised Russell, who has moved to unleash his own attack on Verstappen, who he says “cannot deal with adversity” and was sending Red Bull personnel scrambling to leave earlier this year.

Asked by the media, including PlanetF1.com, if he expects this situation to escalate further, Russell replied: “I mean, I don’t really know what there is to escalate.

“I walked into that stewards [room] with no problem with Max. I walked out of that stewards [room] with no problem with Max. Then his sh*t hit the fan, and the words he said to me…

“But again, I went back, and I told my team, and we laughed about it, and then I woke up the next day, and I was expecting to have a laugh about it… But I saw the fire in his eyes.

“So, I don’t know why this topic has got him so angry.

“And like I said to you before, he cannot deal with adversity. He’s had the most dominant car in recent history for two-and-a-half years. I’m not questioning his driving abilities one single bit, but the second he does not have the fastest car…

“Let’s take Budapest as an example. He crashes into Lewis. He slams his whole team, and he loses the plot.

“Straight away after that race, 25 per cent of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston Martin, because they said they can’t deal with a guy like that.

“And since Austria, he’s won the same number of races as six other drivers. So when you say is Max beatable, of course, he’s beatable. When he’s in the most dominant car, he is not beatable. The same way as Lewis and I, when we had the most dominant car, in Silverstone, in Las Vegas, we were not beatable either.”

With Russell taking a stand against Verstappen, he was therefore asked if he feels that over the years, the four-time World Champion has been enabled by people not standing up to him, Verstappen’s driving tactics brought up on that point after incidents with Lando Norris in Austin and Mexico sparked debate.

Russell would run it back to the controversial Abu Dhabi 2021 title decider, where the actions of then F1 race director Michael Masi played a direct role in Verstappen snatching the championship from Hamilton, securing his first crown and denying Hamilton a record-breaking eighth.

“I think he’s been enabled because nobody’s stood up to him,” Russell said.

“Lewis stood up to him in 2021 and Lewis lost that championship unfairly. Could you imagine the roles being reversed and Max losing that championship in the manner that Lewis lost that championship. I mean, Masi would have been fearing for his life!

“Some of the recent incidents, he has been punished, and he punished himself, you know, Mexico with the reckless overtakes, Budapest with the reckless overtake.

“But it’s just in the past, he has had such a dominant car, he’s not been in this position. So, I think the FIA are pretty on it now, and I don’t think much needs to change from their viewpoint, because he’s going to punish himself one way or another.”

More on the epic Russell v Verstappen war of words

👉 Russell claims Verstappen threatened to ‘put me on my f**king head in the wall’

👉 Max Verstappen takes latest shot at ‘lying’ George Russell in new tactical plan reveal

Russell would be quizzed further on that “put me on my f**king head in the wall” accusation and was asked if he anticipates the FIA getting involved, if such a serious threat was made towards him by Verstappen.

“I have no idea, to be honest,” he replied, “and I’m not looking to get Max penalised. I’m not looking for any repercussion from this.

“I am standing up for myself, for a guy who is coming out, questioning my integrity as a person, slamming me in the press. And I just want to set the record straight.

“As I said, everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but for me, he crossed a line at the weekend, and that was too much.”

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