George Russell claims that Max Verstappen threatened to put his f****** head in the wall" ahead of Qatar Gran Prix.
Bad blood broke out between the pair after Russell reported Verstappen for driving unnecessarily slowly on a cool down lap, which resulted in the Dutchman, who had claimed pole position, getting a one-place grid drop, which just happened to promote the Mercedes driver to the coveted position.
Ahead of the race various comments were attributed to the world champion who had been angered by Russell's involvement in the penalty.
Even after winning the race the Dutchman's mood had not calmed, Verstappen accusing the Briton of being "two-faced" and admitting that he had "lost all respect" for him.
Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, Russell claims that ahead of the race Verstappen had threatened him, insisting that the Dutchman is a bully and has form.
Asked about Verstappen's post-race comments, Russell replied: "I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and 'put me on my f****** head in the wall'," according to ESPN.
"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," he added.
"People have been bullied by Max for years now," he continued, "and you can't question his driving abilities.
"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...
"As I said, 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.
"It was to me privately, yeah, straight out of the stewards," he replied to give more detail on the altercation. "He said, 'I don't know why you would want to screw me like this, I'm so disappointed in you. I was going to not even race you tomorrow, I was going to let you by, but now if I have to, I will purposely go out of my way to put you on your f****** head in the wall'.
"So, I mean, as I said, I don't understand why he was so unnecessarily aggressive and violent in that regard."
The Briton says that he was willing to write-off the incident until he heard what Verstappen had said at Sunday's post-race press conference.
"I honestly just want to set the record straight, to be honest. Because it's just a total double standard that he has for the regulations, and just thinking that he is above everybody else.
"So it's not me trying to assert my leadership style or anything. It's just somebody has come out and said that I'm a two-faced motherf*****, and he's entitled to his own opinions. But coming out and saying that publicly, and slamming me publicly, as I say, I'm just not going to accept it, and I'm going to tell people what the reality was."
The Briton suggests that after years of 'getting away with it', in terms of the stewards, Verstappen now essentially takes it for granted.
"He pushes himself to the absolute limit week in, week out, and that in 95% of the scenarios, is incredible to see. And I respect him for that 95%. But there have been incidents that have gone unpunished. Maybe that is why he thinks he can get away with murder. But that is not the world we live in, and actions have consequences.
"I'm not taking it anyway, to be honest. I'll let you come to those assessments. You know, it can just keep going on like that. For me, it's interesting, this whole regard with him and his own team.
"They're doing their utmost to get Horner out of Red Bull, but at the very first race that he wasn't competitive, (Verstappen) was absolutely slamming his team, and I know for a fact the week after, a quarter of his engineering team were sending their CVs to Mercedes, to McLaren, to Aston.
"So I don't respect somebody who doesn't appreciate those who have given him the chance to perform, because these last 12 races, he has had a car that is of normal competitiveness, and he's been in the fight the same way as myself, Lewis, Charles, Carlos, Lando and Piastri have been. That's how it should be.
"Again, I feel like we all need to lead by example here. He's the biggest, most successful guy in the sport for the last couple of years. He can do what he wants in his own business, but when he starts throwing comments around like he did on Sunday night about me, I'm not just going to sit there and accept it."
Fighting talk... and just the thing for the Drive to Survive crowd to lap up.
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