Verstappen remains unforgiving toward 'disrespectful' British journalist

On Thursday, Verstappen sent a reporter from The Guardian away during his media session at Suzuka. That moment originated from a question after last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix about the incident with George Russell in Spain and whether that led to the Dutchman eventually missing out on the world title.

According to Verstappen, the problem was not the question itself, but the way it was asked, as GPblog reported earlier this week.

Verstappen explained: "I have a lot of respect for everyone and I get asked a lot of questions, a lot of stupid questions as well, but I answer them. That's fine. It's not always that a question is great or whatever, but that's part of Formula 1."

The Dutchman emphasized that he had already answered this specific question multiple times. "I think that particular question, I've answered like 20 times. It's not about the question. I always explain it very well about the thought process and what happened back. But after the final race when you ask that question and you start laughing in my face while asking the question, it’s clearly done with bad intent to ask the question. At that point it shows a massive lack of respect ," he continued.

According to Verstappen, that was decisive for his action in Japan. "For me when you’re not respectful towards me then I don't need to be respectful towards you. I think that's how it works in life. It's very straightforward, very simple," said the four-time world champion.

He also pointed to what, in his view, was not filmed in Abu Dhabi last year. "In this particular case, it was clearly done with bad intent. Of course, at that time in Abu Dhabi, you only see the camera pointed at my face, so you don't see what is behind the camera and how people ask questions. for me it was very clear that it was done in a very disrespectful way," Verstappen added.

Will Verstappen sit down to discuss the incident with the journalist? "Not now", Verstappen concludes. The journalist in question, Giles Richards, stated that he hoped the relationship with the Dutchman could still be repaired. He also told his side of the story, both about what happened in Japan and last year in Abu Dhabi.