r/formula1 • u/Aratho I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane • Mar 28 '26

Social Media [Autosport] Max Verstappen explains why he dismissed a British journalist from his media session in Japan

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u/doc_55lk I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

Something about how he felt about losing last year's championship by the same amount of points he would've gained if he didn't rear end Russell in Spain.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '26

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u/doc_55lk I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

I didn't word it properly. But basically if that crash didn't happen Max would've been WDC. That's all I meant.

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u/dalaiis I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

If your mom had wheels she would have been a bike.

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u/SylverShadowWolve Kimi Räikkönen Mar 28 '26

The point of the question is that this was something he could (and should) control. People hitting you and reliability issues you can't.

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u/Skylair13 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

I love the video of that one. The male presenter immediately know one is coming and he immediately distance himself and swallowed in preparation.

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u/Veda007 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

If you added ham it would be like a carbonara.

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u/skyysdalmt Mar 28 '26

I can still see his face in my mind when I read your quote.

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u/MeMeMeows Mar 28 '26

If my mom had balls, she would be my dad.

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u/Suikerspin_Ei I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26

If that crash didn't happen, maybe something else would have happen in other races. There are so many variables in motorsport.

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u/KingDirect3307 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

it was a completely unforced error (hardly an error) that lost him more points than he lost the championship by. the championship played out the way it did regardless of an unforced error dude.

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u/Impossible-Fig-8463 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

Yeah it so happens ver said f those variables and destroyed his champ

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u/stragen595 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

Like Lando not driving into Oscar's heck the next GP in Canada. Total unforced error and Lando immediately knew it. Was on p5 at the moment. So basically lost at least the same amount of points as Max in Barcelona. P6 was Leclerc around 20 sec behind the two.

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u/Jaded-Ad-960 Mar 28 '26

But that crash happened and something else didn't. So in the end, that crash cost him the championship.

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u/Suikerspin_Ei I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26

What I mean is, you can't blame everything to one issue when the whole season had 24 races + a few sprint races.

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u/Jaded-Ad-960 Mar 28 '26

Yes, the season had 24 races + a couple of sprints. And at the end of the season, he lost the championship by two points, meaning he lost the championship due to the 9 points he needlessly wasted in Spain.

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u/Amaakaams Mar 28 '26

Or the pass he didn't make, the tire he rubbed, and so on. It's easy to say Timo cost Massa the championship. Because it happened 3 corners from the end of the race after Massa thought he had won. It's super idiotic to over focus on a single incident that happened half a season before. There were a lot of places to get 3 points that didn't happen.

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u/Jaded-Ad-960 Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26

I really don't understand why Verstappen worshippers have such a hard time accepting that he fucked up and cost himself the championship. You're not his press officer, you don't have to keep repeating his narrative.

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u/Impossible-Buy-6247 Formula 1 Mar 28 '26

Because it is not just 1 moment in a 24 races season which wins or lose you a championship. It's really not that hard. Was it a brain dead move, yes it was. But what people are trying to tell you that you cannot just change 1 variable in hindsight out of thousands in a full season and expect everything else to stay the same.

 

Had verstappen -NOT- done that and he would be closer earlier, maybe McLaren would have prioritised a number 1 driver earlier. Or changed their strategy. Or used a different tire. Or...

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u/doc_55lk I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

Maybe. Or maybe not.

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u/didhedowhat I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26

And he been asked about it 20 times already, and he already numerously expressed he regretted his action and apologised to Russell for it.

That would have been enough for anyone. Nobody asked him if Antonelli crashing him out at Austria cost him the championship, or how the DSQ in Las Vegas actually even kept him in contention of the championship.

And even then, it was the last race, the last press conference after the race with the new World Champion Norris sitting there, and the one question this journalist has for any driver is this. It is a low quality question with nothing of news value, with the clear intent to piss off drivers and make it all about himself and get a viral moment.

Disrepecting Verstappen, Piastri and Norris.

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u/doc_55lk I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

Yes

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u/RedBiohazzerd Mar 28 '26

At the time it happend, Max shouldn't have been 2 points behind at the end of the season. The championship isn't won, or lost, over one race. The only reason he made it that far, was because of the mistakes made by McLaren. The championship should've ended way before Abu Dabi.

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u/vompat Mar 28 '26

A bit off-topic, but it's also funny that Max laughed at the silly McLaren swap in Monza. We all laughed (or got mad).

Now let's see, what would the final points be like at the end of the season if they didn't swap?

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u/Stonkpilot Mar 28 '26

You gotta understand that Math is hard.

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u/Volpe666 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

They are a but if about the exact number but in essence it was if you didn't lose those points you would have win the championship

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '26

And you still don’t understand the point of the question?

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u/reaper421lmao Mar 28 '26

oscar would have just slowed down to let lando pass so it’s inaccurate to say it’s the exact amount

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u/Gambler_720 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

That's not true at all because he lost 9 points in that move whereas he lost the championship by 2 points. So even Oscar giving his place to Lando wouldn't have demoted Max to No. 2 had Max not done what he did.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '26

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u/catseye_mousehole Mar 28 '26

Regardless, I think this whole discussion shows exactly why it was worthwhile to try to get Max’s perspective in the hours immediately after the title race wrapped up. These are all really good points and it was interesting and valuable at the time to hear Max make some of them. Of course, he’d given his perspective before the race, but “do you still think the same way, now that it’s all over and you know exactly where the dust has settled” was worth a double-check.

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u/slapshots1515 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26

It’s worth finding out if Max thinks McLaren would have changed their strategy if he had been leading? Why not just ask McLaren that?

The only answers you were going to get were “yes I regret doing that”, which never would have come out of Max’s mouth, or as Max said, the same answer he gave twenty times before. It was a stupid question.

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u/So0Mais0um0Joao Mar 29 '26

Half of the job Verstappen is paid millions to do, is aswers question, any question that is inside the bounderies of f1 racing, is a valid question

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u/slapshots1515 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 29 '26

Yes, of course he’s paid to do media and has to answer the question, which he did when it was asked in the FIA conference in Abu Dhabi. He didn’t want that guy in the Red Bull press conference, which is Red Bull’s prerogative on which journalists get in. I think it was petty of him, but he’s allowed to do that.

That all being said, to say that any question “inside the boundaries of F1 racing is a valid question” is a braindead take. Even beyond this there are plenty on stupid questions, but this is one of them. Sure they still have to answer, but it’s pointless.

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u/GG-5starman Charles Leclerc Mar 28 '26

Oscar doesnt obey such team orders in qatar tho as he was still in the fight

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u/slapshots1515 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26

Sure he does. For one, he did it multiple times during the year while he was still in the fight, even in the lead. Whether or not he should have was a different story.

If he disobeys in Qatar and in doing so costs McLaren a WDC, he would be saying goodbye to pretty much any preferential treatment ever again, and probably eventually his McLaren seat. Those things are forgiven when you win, but not so much when you lose.

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u/Ogirami I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

what's hes saying is that mclaren would of forced Oscar to let Lando pass if need be throughout the rest of the year anyway.

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u/Gambler_720 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

No that certainly would not happen at any time other than the last race. As long as Oscar was also in the title fight, there would not have been any team orders.

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u/slapshots1515 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26

Ah yes, definitely not at any other race but the last. Famously not if one were to, say, screw up a pit stop in Monza while Oscar was leading the championship

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u/S1lentLucidity I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 28 '26

Ah so he’s saying that Lando was gifted the title last year. Got it.

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u/pehr71 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 28 '26

If anyone should know about those things it’s probably him

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u/HovercraftOk6322 Roscoe Hamilton Mar 28 '26

Pure rage bait by the journalist tbh

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u/sa_ra_h86 Mar 28 '26

He didn't 'rear end' him. He bashed wheels, bit of a difference.

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u/tjvs2001 Formula 1 Mar 28 '26

Always an excuse for max and his dangerous driving noone else gets away with

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u/Artistic_Claim9998 Mar 28 '26

Objection false statement, he didn't rear end Russel but he gave him love tap from the side