Neither Max Verstappen nor George Russell is letting up in their feud this week.
Verstappen claimed he had “lost respect” for his rival after he lost out on pole position to the Mercedes star in Qatar.
Russell has now accused Verstappen of ‘bullying’ drivers and has claimed that former race director Michael Masi, who was dismissed after the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix three years ago, would have been “fearing for his life” had Hamilton come out on top instead.
“Lewis stood up to him (Verstappen) in 2021, and Lewis lost that championship unfairly. Could you imagine the roles being reversed? I mean, [Michael] Masi would be fearing for his life,” Russell said.
“Lewis is a world champion who I aspire to be like, and I think he is a gold standard of a role model that younger kids should be looking up to.
“And the way Lewis dealt with that championship fight, he was hard, he was aggressive, he was always respectful, and he never went beyond the line.
“I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he (Verstappen) said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my f***ing head in the wall
“So, to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is 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, the very first race the 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, we fight hard, that’s part of racing.
“What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal. But he’s taken it too far now.”