Max Verstappen and George Russell had usually gotten along well in Formula 1, but things seem to have changed at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The trouble began during Saturday’s qualifying session when Russell accused Verstappen of impeding him during a warm-up lap. This led the FIA race stewards to review the incident, ultimately handing Verstappen a one-place grid penalty, which cost him pole position for the race, placing Russell at the front of the grid instead.

On Sunday, the Dutchman wasted no time and got his revenge on the track. He made a better start, overtook Russell, and stayed in the lead to win his ninth race of the season.

After the race, Verstappen openly criticized Russell, saying he had "lost all respect" for him because of how he acted during the stewards' meeting, pointing out that the Briton was really pushing to get him in trouble.

Adding fuel to the fire, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also shared his views on the incident, describing Russell as "quite hysterical" in how he handled the situation in Qatar. 

On Thursday in Abu Dhabi, it became evident that tensions had not cooled—in fact, quite the opposite—as Verstappen firmly stated that his stance remained unchanged and even added more comments to Russell’s account.

"No, no regrets at all, because I meant everything I said and it's still the same," Verstappen said quoted by Motorsport.com.

"If I had to do it again, maybe I would have said even more, knowing the outcome of the race result.

"I still can't believe that someone can be like that in the stewards room. For me, that was so unacceptable, because we're all racing drivers. We all have a lot of respect for each other. We even play sports together, you travel together.

"And of course, you have moments where you get together, you crash, or whatever, you're not happy. In my whole career, I've never experienced what I have experienced in the stewards' room in Qatar. And for me, that was really unacceptable."

He added: "It's nothing to do with him being the director of the GPDA.

"I just never expected someone to really try and actively get someone a penalty that badly and lying about why I was doing what I was doing. But clearly it had an influence on [the stewards]. It was just really not nice and actually very shocking what was going on there."

Russell has later reacted strongly to Verstappen’s remarks in Abu Dhabi, making it clear that he will not accept comments he considers "disrespectful and unnecessary," particularly in light of the personal threats he experienced over the weekend.

"I find it all quite ironic, considering Saturday night he said he's going to purposely go out of his way to crash into meand, quote, 'put me on my f***ing head in the wall'," Russell said.

"To question somebody's integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find it very ironic, and I'm not going to sit here and accept it.

"People have been bullied by Max for years now, and you can't question his driving abilities. But he cannot deal with adversity whenever anything has gone against him.

"Jeddah '21, Brazil '21, he lashes out. Budapest this year, 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. It's part of racing.

"What happens in the steward's room? You fight hard, but it's never personal. But you know, he's taking it too far now."

He added: "I just don't know why other drivers have when they've been in this battle with him, just sort of made it so easy and just let it be.

"Lewis is a world champion who I aspire to be like, and I think he is a gold standard of a role model that younger kids should be looking up to.

"And the way Lewis dealt with that championship fight, he was hard, he was aggressive, he was always respectful, and he never went beyond the line.

"You can go beyond the line in making a slight misjudgement, but going out of your way to say you will purposefully crash into somebody and put them on their head is beyond the line."