Formula 1 Racing

How Verstappen showed his most defiant side amid intense scrutiny

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen showed his most defiant side ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, dishing out an acerbic comeback to those who criticised his driving.

Following a clash with title rival Lando Norris in Austin, which ended with a penalty for the McLaren driver, Verstappen took matters further in Mexico with two shoves in the space of four corners, racing his title rival about as hard as he raced Lewis Hamilton in 2021 to safeguard his championship lead with an inferior Red Bull.

Verstappen’s moves on Norris in Austin and particularly Mexico drew plenty of criticism from colleagues, fans and pundits alike, and inevitably he faced a barrage of questions on the subject on Thursday as the paddock gathered for its third consecutive race weekend, the events from Austin and Mexico still fresh and rumbling on.

His initial response in the FIA’s official press conference was one of acerbic wit mixed with indifference, clapping back that he had plenty of friends and family to the question whether he felt alone in F1, what with his uncompromising views on what hard racing should be. And he echoed prime Kimi Raikkonen – ‘Leave me alone, I know what to do’ – with his rebuttal of criticism from 1996 world champion Damon Hill on whether he knew what fair racing looked like.

Afterwards, in the less formal atmosphere of his session with Dutch-language journalists, Verstappen was even more defiant – ebullient even – cracking jokes over how he feels he has been treated. But while he delivered his own version of the facts with a wry smile, the undercurrent of the Dutchman feeling it was him against the rest of the world cut through.

And for all his indifference to outside opinions and the media blackout he said he had imposed, he seemed pretty aware of what the likes of Hill and Johnny Herbert had said. He suggested pundits – predominantly British – had come out of the woodwork now that, following a near-flawless 2023 campaign, there was finally another stick to beat him with.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Not without merit, Verstappen labelled FIA steward Herbert airing his views through a gambling website as “pretty abnormal”. And he took offence to the former F1 driver’s suggestion that he elbowed Norris out of the way on purpose in Mexico so Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc could come through and deny Norris important championship points. Herbert is far from the only observer holding that…

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