And the Briton is on the warpath with four-time champion Verstappen by claiming that former race director Masi - who resigned from his role three years ago - would be afraid of the Red Bull star if he had denied him his maiden F1 title.

“Lewis stood up to him in 2021, and Lewis lost that championship unfairly. Could you imagine the roles being reversed? I mean, [Michael] Masi would be fearing for his life," Russell said.

“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.”

Russell launched an extraordinary accusation at Verstappen that the Dutchman had allegedly said he was going to crash into the Mercedes driver and 'put me on my f***ing head in the wall' after a fiery meeting with the stewards turned sour.

He also branded Verstappen a 'bully' and suggested he doesn't handle situations well when things are going against him.

“I find it all quite ironic seeing as Saturday night he said he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my f***ing head in the wall,’” Russell said.

“So, to question somebody’s integrity as a person, while saying comments like that the day before, I find is 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, the very first race the car wasn’t dominant, crashing into Lewis , slamming his team…

“For me, those comments on Saturday night and Sunday were totally disrespectful and unnecessary. Because what happens on track, we fight hard, that’s part of racing.

"What happens in the stewards’ room, you fight hard, but it’s never personal. But he’s taken it too far now.”