Max Verstappen slams ‘silly’ reporter over F1 world title-costing choice
Max Verstappen hit back at a journalist after being questioned about his Barcelona crash with George Russell following his championship defeat in Abu Dhabi
Max Verstappen hit back at a journalist after being questioned about the consequences of his collision with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix in relation to his championship battle.
The Dutchman fell short of a fifth straight Drivers’ Championship by just two points in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Verstappen ended the season with an impressive streak, claiming 10 straight podium finishes and six Grand Prix wins to challenge McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Yet it was during the opening half of the season where the championship slipped away.
Largely, Verstappen extracted maximum value from his opportunities, though he was also left ruing lost points in Austria after Kimi Antonelli crashed into him on the first lap. Nevertheless, his moment of madness in Barcelona will remain a defining incident of his campaign.
The Dutchman received a 10-second time penalty for turning into Mercedes’ Russell – a moment of madness he has since criticised and shown remorse for. But when the topic arose following his season-closing triumph in Abu Dhabi, he reacted angrily to the questioning.
“You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season,” Verstappen fired back. “The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come. Yep …You’re giving me a stupid grin now.”
“It’s part of racing at the end. You live and learn. The championship is won over 24 rounds. I’ve also had a lot of early Christmas presents given to me (by McLaren) in the second half. So you can also question that.”
Following the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Verstappen trailed Piastri by more than 100 points in the standings, yet he managed to finish ahead of him in the Drivers’ Championship by the season’s end.
The 28-year-old reflects on his campaign with tremendous satisfaction, as he told journalists.
“We’ve had a rollercoaster of a year, especially in the beginning, but somehow we have turned it around and the results that we have achieved after, honestly, having tough times after a race where you just don’t know why it’s bad or inconsistent… it’s not easy.
“But I think the team has showed that they never give up. It’s easy to say, ‘This is it, 100 points plus, the season is done’. But we always kept trying to understand the issues and I think we really did. It’s been fun. Honestly, the fightback has been really fun.
“In the end, it doesn’t matter if you finish behind by one point, 10 points or 20 points – you are behind. It’s two points now, but it’s been cool. I really enjoyed it.”
