3 min readMar 26, 2026 05:19 PM IST
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ejected a journalist from his Japanese Grand Prix press conference due to an issue between the two at last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi. After Verstappen entered the room, he refused to engage with the media until the aforementioned journo left the room. “One second – I’m not speaking before he’s leaving,” the 28-year-old said which prompted the journo to ask if he was serious. In response, Verstappen asked him to ‘get out’ and after he had left, said, “Now, we can start.”
The controversy between the journalist and Verstappen stemmed from a question that the the former had asked the racer last year at Abu Dhabi on whether he regretted his incident with George Russell of Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix.
In that race, the Red Bull star had been penalized for appearing to deliberately drive into Russell’s car. He was subsequently docked 9 points and plummeted from 5th to 10th.
“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,” Verstappen had responded to Richards’ query back then.
The rest of Verstappen’s press conference proceeded without incident. The 28-year-old cut a relaxed figure as he fielded questions about his recent participation in a sports car race at Germany’s Nurburgring Nordschleife and an outing in a Japanese Super GT car at the Fuji racetrack.
Verstappen, eighth in the overall standings after a sixth-place finish in Australia and retirement in China, has had a difficult start to the season.
Frank, forthright and fiercely competitive, he has been among the strongest critics of the sport’s new power unit rules.
Story continues below this ad
“This is the reality that we are in now,” he said on Thursday. “You just have to accept that at the moment.”
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
