DOHA ¨C Max Verstappen said he had ¡°lost all respect¡± for Mercedes rival George Russell after being stripped of pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Verstappen won Sunday¡¯s race from second place but Red Bull¡¯s quadruple Formula One world champion was still fired up by what went on when they were together in the stewards¡¯ room a day earlier.

¡°I couldn¡¯t believe that I got it,¡± he said of the rarely applied one-place grid drop for driving unnecessarily slowly in the final phase of qualifying and impeding Russell.

¡°But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I¡¯m not surprised anymore in the world that I live in.¡±

Verstappen, whose victory on Sunday was his first since clinching the title in Las Vegas a week earlier, said he had been trying to be nice and not wanting to mess up anyone else¡¯s lap with his championship already won.

¡°I didn¡¯t want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap. And by doing that, you know, being nice, basically you get a penalty.

¡°And that¡¯s what I tried to explain as well. But I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall ... I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards¡¯ room, what was all going on,¡± he added.

¡°I¡¯ve been in that meeting room many times in my life, in my career, with people that have raced and I¡¯ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. And that for me ... I lost all respect.¡±

The Dutch driver also told Viaplay television that Russell ¡°always does it very nicely here in front of the camera, but then when you¡¯re inside with him in person, it¡¯s just a different person.¡±

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports television on the grid before the start that Verstappen was ¡°wound up.¡±

Verstappen passed Russell at the first corner and then battled Lando Norris until the McLaren driver was given a harsh 10 second stop and go penalty for excessive speed while yellow flags were waved.

¡°To be honest, I was expecting a crash, but ultimately we made it easy for him,¡± Russell told reporters after finishing fourth.

¡°We know Max is a fighter 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,¡± added the Mercedes driver.