Max Verstappen launched into a furious rant against George Russell after the Qatar Grand Prix, accusing him of being two-faced and explaining that he has 'lost respect' for the Mercedes driver.

The Dutchman's frustrations stemmed from qualifying, where he lost the pole position to Russell following a post-session investigation by the FIA stewards. Verstappen was judged to have blocked the Brit on his warm-up lap in Q3.

Speaking to the media after coming back to win Sunday's Grand Prix, Verstappen fumed: "Very disappointing. I have often been with the stewards in my career.

"But I have never seen someone who tried to screw the other like that. I have lost all my respect for him. In front of the cameras, he is very neat, but outside of it, he is a different person. I have nothing to do with that."

Verstappen explained his frustrations regarding the meeting with the stewards, noting: "In the world we live in now, I'm not surprised anymore. I think it's the first time someone gets a penalty for something that happened on a slow lap.

"I wanted to be nice. The season is decided for me and I don't want to hinder anyone while they're preparing their push lap. I tried to explain that, but I felt like I was talking to a brick wall."

Verstappen's reaction will come as a surprise to Russell. The Mercedes driver was asked about relations with the four-time world champion after the Qatar GP but believed there were no major issues.

"No, there's no concerns," he said. "We know Max is a fighter and is aggressive. I expect no difference. I really wanted to go out there and fight with him today like we could have done in the sprint. But yesterday in the sprint, he was probably two or three tenths behind us.

"Today, we were two or three tenths behind him. It just goes to show what a night can do in this sport. It's always on a knife's edge. It's a shame we didn't have the pace when it mattered."