Max Verstappen ordered a British journalist to leave his media session at the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix after a heated exchange over past comments.
The four‑time world champion refused to begin his scheduled pre‑race press engagement until The Guardian’s Giles Richards had exited the room, launching a tense back‑and‑forth that quickly became one of the most talked‑about moments of the weekend.
The incident unfolded in Red Bull’s hospitality suite at Suzuka as Verstappen prepared to face the international press for his usual pre‑race media session.
As a colleague began asking the first question with cameras rolling, the Dutchman interrupted, pointing out Richards in the front row and declaring, “I’m not speaking before he’s leaving.”
A brief exchange followed with Richards reportedly asking, “Seriously?” and Verstappen replying, “Yep,” before the Dutchman insisted the journalist exit the room.
The root of Verstappen’s frustration lies in a question Richards posed at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when the Dutchman narrowly missed out on a fifth world championship title by two points to Lando Norris.
In the Abu Dhabi aftermath, Richards asked Verstappen whether he regretted an earlier‑season collision with Mercedes’ George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix which led to a 10‑second time penalty and ultimately cost him valuable championship points.
Verstappen had already indicated at the time that he expected such a line of inquiry, responding that the question reduced an entire season’s effort to one incident rather than acknowledging the broader context of how the title fight had unfolded.
“You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season,” Verstappen said at the time. “The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that question 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.”
Ultimately, Richards left the Japanese GP media session under visible pressure with the rest of the assembled journalists watching as the situation played out in real time.
After the reporter departed Verstappen allowed the session to proceed, answering questions from other media members in a more conventional fashion.
Verstappen responds to qualifying changes at Japanese GP
Verstappen aired his feelings about recent changes to the qualifying rules, permitting a maximum energy harvest of 8mJ per lap, admitting the move will do little to fix the driving challenge this year.
“I’ve not practised this on the simulator, so I cannot give you a clear answer,” he said. “It was before a little bit, well yeah, not flat out basically. So I hope that this can be closer to being flat out.
“Of course, it feels very different to last year, but this is the reality that we are in now. You just have to accept that, at the moment.
“I mean, there’s not much that you can do anyway for this year. I hope that bigger changes will be there for next year. How does it feel? It feels as it feels. I mean, it’s different.
“You all know how I think of the situation. And I think that was something that I felt when I was on the simulator as well, around here.
“Going to eight megajoules probably helps a tiny bit, but the basics are the same, so you still need to be careful with your throttle inputs, and that is very different from the past.”
Red Bull is yet to respond after Max Verstappen kicked journalist out of the media briefing.
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