Max Verstappen refused to speak to Sky Sports at the Mexican Grand Prix due to what he considered disrespectful coverage of his first F1 championship win, saying “I won’t tolerate it anymore”.
The two-time defending champion did not speak to the UK broadcaster at the Mexico City race, where he became the first driver to win 14 races in a scheduled F1 season.
Verstappen is said to have taken offense at Sky pundit Ted Kravitz’s comments throughout the season.
After the Austin race on his ‘Ted’s Notebook’, Kravitz mentioned that Verstappen’s 2021 rival Lewis Hamilton had been “robbed” of the title during the controversial finale in Abu Dhabi.
“It has nothing to do with this weekend, but this year it’s consistently been like digging, disrespecting, especially one particular person,” Verstappen explained after the race. “And at one point that was enough, I didn’t accept it.
“You can’t live in the past, you just have to move on. Social media is a very toxic place right now, and if you’re constantly being like that live on TV, you’re constantly making it worse. rather than trying to make it better in the world.
“You keep disrespecting me and at times I just can’t stand it anymore. So that’s why I decided to stop replying.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner also did not speak to Sky Sports on Sunday.
Horner said Verstappen was annoyed with the description of the 2021 finale.
“I think the allegation that the championship was stolen is something that we don’t feel is an unbiased comment,” Horner said. “That is, we don’t feel, in any way, fair or equal.
“Max is upset about it, and as a team we support him wholeheartedly. We are equally upset. As a team we made the decision this weekend, I decided that we would take a weekend off.”
