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Max Verstappen’s frustrations have moved from the track to the media room.
Before a media session ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, the four-time world champion motioned towards one of the reporters of the room and said: “One second; I’m not speaking before he’s leaving.”
Verstappen singled out Guardian reporter Giles Richards.
Richards asked Verstappen if he was being serious and whether his gripes were due to a question the reporter asked after the final race of the 2025 season in Abu Dhabi. Verstappen responded with “yeah” to Richards’s questions before telling him multiple times to “get out.”
The reporter eventually left, and Verstappen said: “Now we can start.”
Richards did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the BBC, Richards plans to write a story on the incident. The FIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, Richards asked Verstappen whether he “regretted” an incident with Mercedes driver George Russell from earlier that year. Verstappen appeared to drive into Russell—an incident Russell described as “deliberate.” Verstappen incurred a penalty and finished 10th, which cost him nine points from his original 5th position.
Verstappen ultimately lost the drivers’ championship to McLaren’s Lando Norris by two points.
“You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season,” Verstappen said to Giles in December. “The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come. You’re giving me a stupid grin now.”
It’s not the first time Verstappen has shunned members of the media.
In 2022, he refused to talk to Sky Sports at the Mexican Grand Prix after what he called “disrespectful” behavior from “one particular person” from the broadcast. The Red Bull driver was referring to analyst Ted Kravitz, who had said that Lewis Hamilton had been “robbed” of the drivers’ championship in the controversial finish at Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen has struggled this season under the new F1 rules, sitting at No. 8 in the championship. He’s openly expressed his distaste for the new rules in the media, calling the cars “terrible” and comparing them to Formula E cars.
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