George Russell admitted he was “expecting a crash” with Max Verstappen before the race started in Qatar, given the World Champion’s grid penalty.

Verstappen was handed a one-place penalty after being found to have driven unnecessarily slowly in front of Russell on a cool down lap in Q3 on Saturday, which in turn promoted the Mercedes driver to pole position at the start of the race.

George Russell was ‘expecting a crash’ with Max Verstappen at Qatar GP start

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Verstappen and Russell both reported to the stewards after qualifying for that ‘driving unnecessarily slowly’ infringement, and Verstappen was stripped of pole position for the race – much to his frustration.

He criticised Russell’s conduct after the race, too, claiming he “lost all respect” for the Mercedes driver when they were with the stewards on Saturday.

It ultimately proved immaterial to the outcome of the race, as Verstappen swept past to take the lead at the first corner – an advantage he would not relinquish, leading all the way to the chequered flag in Lusail, while Russell eventually crossed the line fourth.

When asked on his thoughts on what would happen at the start, Russell said he was anticipating a move from the Red Bull driver, and even potentially contact – but the fact he had a slower getaway made that possibility null and void.

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“To be honest, I was expecting a crash, but ultimately we made it easy for him,” Russell told media including PlanetF1.com after the race.

“Because both Lewis [Hamilton] and I made a terrible start, so there was pretty simple overtake for him, which was a bit frustrating for us.

“But it’s strange how when things are working and the car is quick, everything seems just to work so well, and when the car is off the pace a bit, everything just seems to go wrong – and today was a great example of that.”

Given Verstappen’s comments on Saturday, Russell revealed the reigning World Champion had already spoken to him to expect a move for the lead at some point, with the penalty only serving to fire him up further for the race.

On those conversations, he added: “No, there’s no concerns.

“We know Max is a fighter and and is aggressive, I expect no different, and I really wanted to go out there and fight with him today, like we could have done in the sprint.

“Yesterday, in the sprint, he was probably two or three tenths behind us. Today, we were two or three tenths behind him, and it just goes to show what a night can do in this sport. It’s always on a knife’s edge, and it’s a shame we didn’t have the pace when it mattered.”

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