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Reuters

Max Verstappen asked a journalist to leave ⁠his Thursday media briefing ⁠at the Japanese Grand Prix, with ⁠the Dutchman still upset over a question asked by the same reporter in December about an incident that potentially cost him a fifth-straight drivers’ title.
“I’m not speaking before he’s leaving,” Verstappen said as he sat down to take ‌questions in Red Bull’s hospitality area at the Suzuka circuit ahead of the third race of the season on Sunday.
Verstappen had already clashed with the journalist following December’s Abu Dhabi season finale after losing the title to McLaren’s Lando Norris by just two points.
The reporter had asked ⁠Verstappen if in hindsight he regretted an incident with Mercedes driver George Russell at the Spanish ‌Grand Prix in June for which the Dutchman was given a 10-second penalty that dropped him from fifth to 10th and cost him nine precious ‌points.
“You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season. The only thing ⁠you mention is ⁠Barcelona. I knew that would come. You’re giving me a stupid grin now,” Verstappen had responded at the time.
“It’s part ‌of racing at the end. You live and learn. The championship is one of 24 rounds. I’ve also had a lot ‌of early ‌Christmas presents given to me in the second half [of the season], so you can also ‌question that,” he had added.

In Suzuka, the journalist said “Seriously?” when Verstappen told him to leave.
“Yep,” the 28-year-old said.
The reporter replied: “Because of the question last year? You want me to leave?”
Verstappen answered: “Yeah”, with the journalist walking towards the Dutch driver’s table to collect his dictaphone.
He said: “It’s just the question I asked you in Abu Dhabi? About Spain?
Verstappen replied: “Get out ... get out!”
The journalist added: “You’re really that upset about it?”
Verstappen replied: “Get out.”
The reporter left the hospitality suite following the 30-second argument.
“Now we can start,” Verstappen added after the reporter left, and the rest of the press conference proceeded without incident.
The 28-year-old ⁠cut a relaxed figure as he fielded questions about his recent participation in a sports car ⁠race at Germany’s Nurburgring Nordschleife and an outing in a Japanese Super GT car at the Fuji racetrack.
Verstappen, eighth in the overall standings after a sixth-place finish in ‌Australia and retirement in ‌China, has had a difficult start to the season.
Frank, forthright and fiercely competitive, he has been among the strongest critics of the sport’s new power unit rules.
“This is the reality that we are in now,” he said on Thursday. “You just have to accept that at the moment.”
Meanwhile, Briton Lando Norris said he was confident his ⁠McLaren would improve ⁠enough to become the car ⁠to beat this year, despite a bruising start to the season for the reigning drivers’ and constructors’ champions.
The Woking-based team, constructors’ champions for the past two years, have struggled for both ‌speed and reliability over the opening two races of the sport’s new rules era, with both cars failing to even start the last race in China.
Still, they are third in the overall standings, albeit 80 points behind leaders Mercedes and 49 adrift of second-placed Ferrari.
“We’ve won the last ⁠two championships and we won the drivers’ last year because we could build the ‌best car on the grid, and I’m confident we can get back to doing that this year,” said the 26-year-old, who finished fifth in the Australian season opener ‌and fourth ‌in China’s sprint.
Norris said his belief stemmed from the remarkable turnaround McLaren ‌staged to win the constructors’ standings in 2024.
“I can’t remember how many points ⁠we were behind in 2024 from Mercedes and Red Bull, Ferrari, but I think ⁠we were over 150 points or something behind and we still managed to come back and win the constructors’,” he said.


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Sport

Dutchman says ‘I’m not speaking before he’s leaving’ as he sits down to take ‌questions in Red Bull’s hospitality area at Suzuka circuit


Dutchman says ‘I’m not speaking before he’s leaving’ as he sits down to take ‌questions in Red Bull’s hospitality area at Suzuka circuit.


Max Verstappen

Lando Norris

Mercedes-Benz

McLaren

F1 Japanese Grand Prix: smarting Verstappen asks journalist to ‘get out’ of media briefing

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Dutchman says ‘I’m not speaking before he’s leaving’ as he sits down to take ‌questions in Red Bull’s hospitality area at Suzuka circuit

Dutchman says ‘I’m not speaking before he’s leaving’ as he sits down to take ‌questions in Red Bull’s hospitality area at Suzuka circuit