Max Verstappen was given a one-place grid penalty for impeding George Russell by driving unnecessarily slowly in Qatar qualifying last weekend

Russell added: “I knew that was a spur of the moment thing, but the next day, we were joking around a bit with (Sergio) Perez and Carlos (Sainz), I saw it in his eyes that he meant it.

“He’s a four-time champion. Lewis (Hamilton) is the champion I aspire to be – hard but fair; never beyond the line. We have a duty as drivers.

“For a world champion to come out and say he is going to go out of his way to crash into someone and put him on his head, that is not the example we should be setting.”

In Qatar qualifying, the two drivers tangled at Turn 12, forcing Russell on to the gravel.

Verstappen was penalised for driving unnecessarily slowly and found to have been “well outside” the target time required of drivers when not on a flying lap.

The stewards sided with Russell’s argument that Verstappen should not have been on the racing line if he was going slowly.

Afterwards, Verstappen said he “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”.

On Thursday, Russell said he had not set out to get Verstappen a penalty.

“There is nothing to lie about,” Russell added. “He was going too slow, he was on the racing line and in the high-speed corner. I wasn’t trying to get him a penalty. I was just trying to prepare my lap and you fight hard on track and in the stewards.