‘Get out’ – Verstappen bans reporter from Japan press conference

n n

Red Bull Racings’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen speaks to the press ahead of the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka on March 26, 2026. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

n

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was involved in a flashpoint ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on Thursday when he refused to start his press conference until an English journalist had left the room.

n

The Red Bull driver sat down to speak to reporters at the team’s hospitality suite in Suzuka, but then said, “I’m not speaking before he’s leaving”, and gestured at a journalist from The Guardian newspaper.

n

The journalist asked Verstappen if his demand was because of a question he had asked the driver last season, to which Verstappen replied “yes” and told him to “get out”.

n

The reporter left and Verstappen continued with the press conference.

n

The reporter later told AFP that the incident stemmed from a question he had asked Verstappen after the Dutchman missed out on a fifth world title to Lando Norris by two championship points at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.

n

The question centred on the impact of a penalty that Verstappen had picked up for ramming Mercedes driver George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix in June.

n

AFP

n n