- The Briton started from pole in Lusail after Verstappen received a penalty.
- But he could only finish fourth after the Dutch driver regained the lead.
- Verstappen had fierce words towards Russell after the incident with the stewards
George Russell was accused of “giving up” during the turbulent Qatar Grand Prix in which he lost first place to four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
The Briton started the race from pole position, but was quickly overtaken by Verstappen, who was in second place on the grid, and overtook his rival just minutes into the race.
But Verstappen might not have had to work so hard if he had not broken race rules and been demoted from pole, the position he had claimed in qualifying.
The Dutch superstar was penalized one position on the grid after he was deemed to have driven too slow in qualifying, so Russell had to take action to prevent this.
Outraged by the decision, Verstappen broke down in tears and commented on Sunday that the Mercedes driver was a “completely different person” in front of the stewards compared to “very nice” in front of the cameras.
The Red Bull driver added that he had “never seen anyone trying to screw someone so hard” and that Russell’s actions with the stewards had made him “lose all respect” for his fellow driver.
George Russell accused of having a weakened mentality after finishing fourth in Qatar
Max Verstappen was the eventual winner, but started from second place after being penalized.
The four-time world champion placed part of the blame on Russell, who had criticized his qualifying pace on the radio and before the stewards.
Russell finished fourth and said after the race that he had “expected a collision” with the furious competitor, based on Verstappen’s aggression after the incident.
But former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya suggested it was Russell, and not the world champion, who had to worry about where his head was during the race.
“Verstappen drives them crazy,” Montoya told Vision4Sport, which offers a complete and personalized service for the most iconic F1 events on the calendar. ‘First of all, he doesn’t make many or any mistakes. And secondly, he is comfortable crashing and the team is happy if he crashes.
“If you look at turn one, the exit after what happened with the marshals, as soon as Max made the jump, George wasn’t going to try to turn on the outside because he thought they would crash.
‘George said it, I thought we were going to crash. So in his mind, as soon as the lights went out, George gave up. He said to himself, “I can’t do this.”
Russell enters the final race of this season this week in Abu Dhabi sixth in the standings, having taken wins at the Austrian Grand Prix and last month’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The 26-year-old is one place ahead of his teammate, outgoing Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton, in seventh place, after consistently outperforming his teammate throughout this season.
Russell will next face the seven-time world champion in different colours, with his compatriot’s long-awaited move to Ferrari taking place before next season.