What ‘surprised’ an F1 race winner about Max Verstappen journalist spat

Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard was surprised the FIA did not punish Max Verstappen for kicking out a journalist from a media session at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Verstappen made headlines ahead of the weekend at Suzuka when he ejected a British journalist from his media session on Thursday and refused to start the conference until Giles Richards of The Guardian left Red Bull's hospitality. 

The four-time world champion’s actions proved controversial and were criticised by many, leaving ex-Red Bull driver Coulthard surprised F1’s governing body the FIA took no action on the matter.

"Well, I see it this way, it's probably not something that on reflection Max will feel good about because even though he's absolutely right, you don't have to answer the question, it is unusual to ask somebody to leave from that environment," Coulthard said on the Up To Speed podcast.

"And I'm actually a little bit surprised the FIA didn't take a stance on it. I didn't see anything that there was any sort of reprimand because basically if he was to say the word s**t in there, he'd get fined.”

13-time grand prix winner Coulthard continued: "I can only liken it to when I was racing, and I never won the world championships that Max has, of course, but I was definitely open to some criticism from various journalists.

"And it's very difficult not to take it personally. So I'm sure you don't look at the comments on some of the social feeds because there'll be some who love you and there'll be some that just don't like you, and that's the way it is.

"So I certainly did get some criticism, and there was always an underlying, let's say, if they were questioning my qualifying ability, it was a fair question, but of course it wasn't easy to be asked the same question time and time again.

"And some journalists would be a lot more dismissive. And it is their right as a journalist to say what they see. But it is difficult not to take it personally. And none of the drivers are exempt from that.

"And right now, Kimi Antonelli is getting all of the praise. Everything. Everyone loves him. And his mum will be getting cutouts from newspapers if people still do that nowadays. But as sure as he's being praised right now, he'll get criticised at some point in the future, especially if he makes some mistakes.

"I remember one journalist writing that 'David has an amazing ability to talk about the incident as if he wasn't driving the car at the time'. And it really shocked me because clearly he thought I was just making excuses all the time.

"But I didn't see it that way. But maybe I was being overdefensive, and I spoke to that journalist, and we made peace and moved on. But it is tough to take that public criticism."