Max Verstappen refuses Suzuka media session until journalist leaves Red Bull hospitality
Max Verstappen decided against starting his media session on Thursday until a specific journalist had left the room.
Max Verstappen delayed the start of his media session on Thursday, due to being unhappy about the presence of a specific journalist.
The Dutch driver made it clear that he would not start his media session with journalists on the ground at Suzuka, until one specific attendee had departed the Red Bull hospitality unit.
Max Verstappen halts Suzuka media session over journalist dispute
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google for news you can trust.
Verstappen was making his usual Thursday media appearances when he headed to the Red Bull hospitality unit to speak with the print journalists, having completed his broadcast duties with the television crews on hand at Suzuka.
Sitting down for the scheduled 10-minute session, Verstappen spotted a journalist in the midst of the faces looking at him, and immediately said that he would not start the session until the journalist had left.
“I’m not speaking before he’s leaving,” the four-time F1 World Champion said, singling out the journalist in question.
With the journalist initially questioning whether Verstappen was serious, he hazarded a guess at why the Red Bull driver might be annoyed with him.
At last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, straight after Verstappen had just missed out on the title by two points, the journalist had asked whether he regretted the controversial moment of contact between himself and George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix – a moment that cost Verstappen valuable points in the championship.
The manner in which the question was asked appeared to annoy Verstappen, who replied, “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. I don’t know. Yeah, 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, so you can also question that. ”
Having established that the question was the issue, the journalist questioned again whether Verstappen wanted him to leave, and whether the Dutch driver was upset by it, to which he replied, ” Get out”.
Upon the journalist’s departure from the hospitality unit, Verstappen relaxed and said, “Now we can start”.
While media briefings are part of each driver’s expected workload on a Thursday, only the FIA press conferences are mandatory to attend and engage with, meaning it will be entirely in Red Bull’s hands as to whether it will intervene to restore peace between Verstappen and the journalist in question.
Moving on to discussing the race weekend, Verstappen addressed how he feels the driving challenge will be quite different this year, in cars that are energy-starved around the high-speed Suzuka circuit.
Early on Thursday, the FIA confirmed a change to the rules for qualifying, permitting a maximum energy harvest of 8mJ per lap in a bid to encourage more natural driving dynamics with less energy harvesting.
The change shifts the balance back towards the internal combustion engine a little, although will slow down laptimes.
“Of course, it feels very different to last year, but this is the reality that we are in now. You just have to accept that, at the moment,” Verstappen said, with the Dutch driver being one of the most vehemently vocal about the impact of the new regulations on his enjoyment of Formula 1.
“I mean, there’s not much that you can do anyway for this year. I hope that bigger changes will be there for next year. How does it feel? It feels as it feels. I mean, it’s different.
“You all know how I think of the situation. And I think that was something that I felt when I was on the simulator as well, around here. Going to eight megajoules probably helps a tiny bit, but the basics are the same, so you still need to be careful with your throttle inputs, and that is very different from the past.”
Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.
You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!
Read Next: Charles Leclerc plays down Ferrari title hopes as Mercedes pace gap emerges
