{"id":561643,"date":"2026-03-26T08:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/561643\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T08:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:12:10","slug":"max-verstappen-ejects-journalist-from-media-session-over-2025-f1-title-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/561643\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen ejects journalist from media session over 2025 F1 title question"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Laurence EdmondsonMar 26, 2026, 03:54 AM ET<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>\u2022\u00a0Joined ESPN in 2009
\u2022\u00a0An FIA accredited F1 journalist since 2011<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen<\/a> demanded a journalist leave his news conference ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix due to a question they asked at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The four-time world champion refused to start his media session until the journalist left Red Bull’s hospitality, saying “I’m not speaking before he’s leaving” and telling him to “get out.”<\/p>\n

Verstappen confirmed his demand was linked to a question the journalist asked during the post-race news conference in Abu Dhabi last year, which later went viral online.<\/p>\n

The Abu Dhabi question referenced Verstappen’s 10-second penalty at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix<\/a> for driving into the side of George Russell’s car.<\/p>\n

The penalty dropped Verstappen from fifth place to tenth, costing him nine championship points in a season in which he missed out on the title by two points after the final round.<\/p>\n

The exchange in the news conference, which happened four months ago, went as follows:<\/p>\n

Journalist: “Max, you lost out to Lando by just two points What do you think now about the incident with George Russell<\/a> in Spain? Do you regret that looking back in hindsight?”<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “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.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen kicked a journalist out of his news conference at Suzuka on Thursday.\u00a0Marcel van Dorst\/EYE4IMAGES\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Verstappen singled out the same journalist and asked him to leave his news conference following another tense exchange.<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “One second, I’m not speaking before he’s leaving.”<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n

2 Related<\/p>\n

Journalist: “Seriously?”<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “Yeah.”<\/p>\n

Journalist: “Because of the question last year?”<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “Yeah.”<\/p>\n

Journalist: “You want me to leave?”<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “Yeah.”<\/p>\n

Journalist: “Just because of the question I asked you in Abu Dhabi.”<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “Yeah.”<\/p>\n

Journalist: “About why you …”<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “Yeah.”<\/p>\n

Journalist: “About Spain.”<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “Get out.”<\/p>\n

Journalist: “You’re really, really that upset about it?”<\/p>\n

Verstappen: “Get out. Yeah. Get out.”<\/p>\n

After the journalist left the media session, Verstappen added: “Now we can start.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laurence EdmondsonMar 26, 2026, 03:54 AM ET Close\u2022\u00a0Joined ESPN in 2009\u2022\u00a0An FIA accredited F1 journalist since 2011 Multiple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-561643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}