Max Verstappen reportedly had a few “rather rude” words for George Russell when he confronted the Mercedes driver ahead of the driver parade in Qatar.

Verstappen claimed pole position for the season’s penultimate race where he was 0.055s faster than Russell in qualifying, only to lose the position to the Mercedes driver after a stewards’ investigation.

Max Verstappen had a ‘rather rude’ confrontation with George Russell

On track on an out-lap in qualifying, Verstappen was deemed to have driven too slowly with Russell, also on a slow out-lap, having to take action to avoid the rear of the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen was given an unusual one-place grid drop, and blasted Russell for trying to “screw” him over during the stewards’ meeting.

“I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com. “That for me, I lost all respect [for Russell].”

And he let Russell know his thoughts in the build-up to the Grand Prix, confronting the Briton ahead of the driver parade.

“On the drivers’ parade holding room, Max then confronted George,” Kravitz revealed in his post-Qatar Notebook.

“Still seething – as we’ve said, he uses that anger as motivation for his one-place grid drop – and said something along the lines of: ‘You and your FIA mates, I hope you’re happy with what you’ve done’. Or ‘your FIA buddies’.

“I think the actual quote was rather ruder than that but I’m not going to say what it was but that seems to be the confrontation that Christian Horner referred to that it all got a bit tasty between them.”

Kravitz’s Sky F1 colleague Naomi Schiff was close enough to hear the confrontation but joked that she wouldn’t repeat the words as she doesn’t want an FIA penalty for swearing.

“I’m not going to repeat the words,” Schiff said. “I don’t know if the FIA will give me a fine if I repeat the words!

“I think Max had a word with George. I think he made the message very clear that he should watch his back.”

More analysis and numbers from the Qatar GP weekend

👉Qatar GP conclusions: Sainz exposes Hamilton with FIA under severe scrutiny

👉The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings after the Qatar GP

Max Verstappen calls out ‘completely different’ George Russell

Although Verstappen went on to win the Qatar Grand Prix, his ninth victory of the season, the Dutchman was still smarting over Russell’s antics in the stewards’ room.

The Briton hadn’t made a big deal of the moment during the post-qualifying press conference, but once all those summoned were speaking with the stewards, Verstappen said he was completely different.

“He always acts very nicely here in front of the camera,” the four-time World Champion told Viaplay, “but then when you’re in there in person [in the steward’s room] it’s just a completely different person.

“I can’t stand that, you might as well get the hell out of here. I don’t want anything to do with that.

“The way he acted was completely ridiculous. I have respect for everyone, but I lost it with him. I thought it was ridiculous how he wanted to give me a penalty. I was quite angry with him about that.”

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