{"id":566593,"date":"2026-03-26T23:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566593\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T23:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:33:13","slug":"red-bull-driver-max-verstappen-demands-journalist-leave-presser-japanese-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566593\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull driver Max Verstappen demands journalist leave presser, Japanese Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a> ordered a journalist to \u201cget out\u201d of a scheduled media session at Formula 1’s<\/a> Japanese Grand Prix after objecting to a question he asked last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not speaking before he’s leaving,” Verstappen said, indicating reporter Giles Richards of British newspaper The Guardian, as the question-and-answer session was due to begin in Red Bull’s hospitality area.<\/p>\n

Richards approached the table where Verstappen was sitting and tried to plead his case. Verstappen told him to “get out” and Richards left.<\/p>\n

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Verstappen indicated he objected to a question Richards asked in December after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Richards asked Verstappen whether losing out to Lando Norris<\/a> by two points for the title might lead him to regret an incident earlier in the year when he collided with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix<\/a>. That earned Verstappen a time penalty which cost the Dutch driver valuable points.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou forget all the other stuff that happened in my season. The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come,\u201d Verstappen answered.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen in Japan.\u00a0NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re giving me a stupid grin now. I don\u2019t know. Yeah, it\u2019s part of racing at the end. You live and learn.<\/p>\n

“The championship is one of 24 rounds. I\u2019ve also had a lot of early Christmas presents given to me in the second half, so you can also question that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richards wrote in a column for The Guardian that he was \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d by what happened and questioned whether Verstappen \u201cwas simply enjoying the power dynamic?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still admire Verstappen and I hope we can enjoy a better relationship in the future. Sometimes, difficult, awkward questions have to be asked. That\u2019s the job that comes with the privilege,\u201d Richards added.<\/p>\n

Four-time champion Verstappen heads into the race at Suzuka, the third of the season, after a difficult start to the year.<\/p>\n

He and Red Bull<\/a> have so far been unable to match the pace of leading team Mercedes and Verstappen has made clear his dislike of F1’s new era of regulations<\/a>, which place more emphasis on electrical power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen ordered a journalist to \u201cget out\u201d of a scheduled media session at Formula 1’s Japanese Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-566593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}