Formula One is no stranger to key personnel from the teams refusing to speak with certain media outlets. Mattia Binotto had a spell of refusing to talk with the British F1 broadcasters after feeling they were repeatedly hounding his team. The latest spat sees Mx Verstappen refusing to talk to British F1 TV broadcaster Sky at the Mexican GP following comments made by Ted Kravitz as the previous round in Austin, Texas.
The double Dutch world champion is irritated at comments Kravitz made where he referred to Lewis Hamilton being “robbed” of the 2021 F1 drivers’ title.
F1 Abu Dhabi 2021 just won’t go away
Verstappen beat Hamilton to the chequered flag at the Abu Dhabi GP following a safety car incident and a 1 lap shoot out to the finish line with the winner taking the drivers’ title.
The FIA later acknowledged they might have been “human error” from the race director who interpreted the safety car restart in an unusual fashion.
Formula One’s governing sport has changed its regulations on lapped cars behind the safety car since in an attempt to prevent the same circumstances arising in future.
Verstappen media ban
Max Verstappen refused to speak to Sky Sports win their post qualification show at this weekend’s Mexico City GP.
Dutch publication de Telegraaf reveals Max plans to do the same with Sky Italia and Sky Sports Germany during the pre and post race shows today.
Whether the boycott will continue for the final two rounds in Brazil and Abu Dhabi is not yet clear.
Kravitz ‘crime’ was during an of the cuff piece he does following a race day where he rounds up the various incidents that occurred during the grad prix.
The British broadcaster was in fact referring to Brad Pitt who had been at the circuit of the America’s and jokingly referred to what kind of script th American movie director could have in mind.
Kravitz was tongue in cheek
“[Hamilton] doesn’t win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track [COTA] where he could win the first race all year, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him.
“What a script and a story that would have been. But that’s not the way the script turned out today, was it?
“Because the guy that beat him after being robbed actually overtook him, because he’s got a quicker car, because of engineering and Formula One and design, and pretty much because of [Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s lead car designer] over there.”
Of course Lewis was leading the US GP with just 6 laps to go before he overtook his arch rival Hamilton.
Verstappen previous media ban
Max has taken action against the media on previous occasions.
Netflix produce a fly on the wall drama series each season on the behind the scenes activities and does somewhat ham up certain issues and rivalries – as or course Holywood would do.
Verstappen was unhappy how certain driver rivalries were portrayed during the 2021 “Drive to Survive” 10 part series because he barely featured in what turned out to be his first championship winning season last year.
The Dutch driver boycotted Netflix after growing unhappy at the portrayal of driver rivalries in “Drive to Survive”, meaning he barely featured in the series covering 2021 and his first championship.
Possible FIA sanction for Verstappen
Max held talks earlier in the 2022 season with the American film production company and they agreed grounds on which Netflix could be included in the ow double world champions narrative.
The Formula One drivers are mandated to do media interviews at certain times during the F1 weekend from what is called “the bull ben”. Whether Max will honour those commitments with Sky and avoid FIA sanctions but just refuse to to the extra one on one interviews at the Sky podium with the programmes anchor and social guest – is yet unknown.
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Second and third marks @MercedesAMGF1's best qualifying of the season so far 🙌
But after being in the hunt for pole, both Lewis and George were left wanting more 😩#MexicoGP #F1
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 30, 2022
The Sky UK team are so biased it’s laughable. Ted Kravitz strolls up and down the pit lane as if he owns it. Martin Brundle used to be ok as being an ex F1 driver he used to take a neutral informative stance but recently even he has turned into yet another Mercedes mouthpiece. If you live in the UK watch the C4 coverage as it’s much more entertaining and it’s free!