Another Formula 1 weekend, another media day flare-up from Max Verstappen.
This time, at least, it wasn’t about the car or the regulations.
Last season, Verstappen had a terrible drive at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, at one point racking up a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on George Russell. It was a dumb move, a rare mistake by the then reigning champion. The incident could be considered as one that cost Verstappen the championship, as he lost the title by only two points.
Following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, Giles Richards of The Guardian asked Verstappen about Spain.
Richards made his first on-track appearance of the season this week in Japan. When Verstappen’s press conference started on media day, he refused to answer any questions until Richards left. And if there were any questions about why he wanted Richards out, he cited the question at Abu Dhabi.
As journalists, we are not supposed to make the story about us. I’m sure the person most disappointed about all of this is Richards, who wrote up on what is going on in his situation as a result of this incident.
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But considering I’ve spent over a decade now writing about cars going around in some configuration of circles, I think I can provide some decent personal insight on this situation.
There have been times, on the NASCAR side, when I have written something for this website and received feedback from drivers and/or teams. Sometimes it’s positive, but other times, not so much.
Many years ago, a driver was so unhappy about something I wrote that one driver informed us that the infamous Cup Series driver group chat had picked up on it, and many of them were not happy with what I had written.
Now, you never knew about this before because ultimately, we are all professionals. We heard from them, discussed, and worked it out in private. I don’t know what my current status is on that side of motorsports, but I can say that I covered a race weekend not long after this incident and didn’t nobody said anything about it. Because, even if there was still ill will, we’ve all got a job weʻre supposed to do.
Returning to Verstappen’s moment in Japan this week, it would be one thing if this were a flash in the pan for Verstappen and Red Bull – but it definitely is not. When word got out during Mexico City weekend a few years ago that Red Bull had gone over the cost cap, Red Bull iced out Sky Sports for the weekend.
Why? Because Ted Kravitz aired a segment on Ted’s Notebook where he mentioned, from Lewis Hamilton‘s perspective, that Red Bull may well have stolen the championship in 2021. A segment on a show nobody in America even knows exists.
Yes, the segment was a bit over the line. But an entire team taking a public stand against the primary English-language broadcaster, even for just one weekend, ultimately looked terrible, especially when the breaking point was on, yes, Ted’s Notebook.
It’s not like any of this will matter in the long run. Verstappen is already one of just five drivers in history to have won four or more championships. He’ll be paid dozens of millions of dollars to hate his job.
But continuing to turn Thursdays into a circus of bad headlines is not going to do well for his legacy, ultimately.
If Verstappen wants to leave F1 and go take up GT3 racing, hell, if he wants to take up camel racing, that’s fine. He’s already proven everything. Go have fun. But staying in F1 and complaining insistently about how bad the regulations are doesn’t do anybody any favors. I’ll never tell a driver, “shut up and drive,” but it gets to a point where the negativity becomes just a bit much.
Verstappen’s issues this season stem from his unhappiness with the new cars and how he perceives they drive, sometimes derisively equating them to Formula E. I have watched FE quite a bit over the last few years in anticipation of these regulations. Heck, the first race I ever called on Grand Prix Focus was FE.
These cars have not raced at all like their Formula E counterparts. The entire field is not in a conga line waiting to deploy a finite amount of power. Yet people still compare the two because Verstappen does.
It’s just disappointing to me, as somebody who honestly thought Verstappen had matured over the past few years, watching him continue to behave this childishly. The constant winning helped with that, but even last year, Verstappen seemed to struggle by delivering stinging criticism when he no longer had the best car.
There’s no doubting that Max is already one of the best drivers F1 has ever seen. One of the final things I did before taking a break last year at Frontstretch was to already declare him second only to Juan Manuel Fangio. Put a drink in me, and I might put him over Fangio now.
I just don’t want to see him tarnish that because of petty things like this.
