Max Verstappen has doubled down on his rant against George Russell, explaining he is not taking back his comments from the Qatar Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver even accused the Briton of “lying” about his actions in the stewards’ room.

Russell successfully campaigned for a one-place grid penalty for the Dutchman after qualifying in Qatar, promoting him to pole position. By the second corner of the first lap he had been relegated to third place, but Verstappen was not happy, launching into a sensational rant after securing his ninth Grand Prix victory of the season.

“I was pretty surprised when I was sitting there in the commissioners room (about) what was going on,” he said last weekend. “Honestly, (it was) very disappointing because I think we’re all there, we respect each other a lot.

“And of course, I’ve been in this boardroom many times in my life, in my career, with people that I’ve run with and I’ve never seen someone try to screw someone so strong. And that for me… I lost all respect.

Verstappen was asked if he wanted to retract his comments, but instead doubled down. “No, no regrets, because I meant everything I said and it’s still the same,” he said in Abu Dhabi. “If I had to do it again, I might have said even more, knowing the result of the race.

“I still can’t believe that someone could be like that in the stewards’ room. For me, it was so unacceptable, because we are all racing drivers. We all have a lot of respect for each other. the others. We even do sports together, you travel together.

“And of course, there are times when you find yourself, or you crash, or whatever, you’re not happy. In my entire career, I’ve never experienced what I experienced in the commissioners’ room in Qatar and for me, that was really unacceptable.”

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