“He made it personal” – George Russell accuses Max Verstappen of “crossing a line” over the altercation with stewards in Qatar

Commenting on what happened in the stewards’ room, Russell continued: “We went into the stewards’ room, for the first five minutes I didn’t say a word because they were just talking to Max and he was already angry.” insulted the stewards, and then when they asked my opinion, I told them exactly the facts.

“I stuck to my delta time – we all have this lap time that we have to stick to. They also say that if you drive slowly you have to get off the track. I wasn’t trying to give Max a penalty – at that point in qualifying I was in first place, I don’t even think Max was in second place at that point.

“I was just trying to prepare my lap, he was 20 seconds too slow on his lap, he was parked in the middle and I didn’t argue with the stewards. But Max was very angry that I didn’t support him because he expected me to say, “No problem, what Max did was okay.”

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“It wasn’t incredibly dangerous and was the punishment harsh? Maybe it was a little harsh, but those are the rules. We all have the rules and we all have to follow them. I would have liked to slow down 20 seconds on my preparation lap to prepare my tires, but I didn’t do that.

“I spoke to him on Sunday morning, it was me, Max, Checo (Perez) and Carlos (Sainz). We almost laughed about it, but I could see in his eyes that he was angry, and the words he said meant he meant it. For me that was very surprising.

“I didn’t have him disqualified, it almost feels like he’s expecting a double standard and if it doesn’t go his way there’s no option and that’s not how the sport works.”