Inside Verstappen's Approach to F1 Media: The Full Story
Jun.27 - Max Verstappen giggled to the Dutch media as he explained his ongoing reluctance to answer questions at the FIA's official press conferences.
For instance, as the governing body finally published the stewards' guidelines for imposing penalties, the quadruple world champion was asked if he thinks Formula 1 is increasingly over-regulated.
"I'm not going to comment," the Dutchman insisted. "I cannot risk a penalty point."
Later, when he gathered for the Dutch-speaking written media, he openly admitted that he doesn't "say much" in the FIA's official settings.
"It's easy," said Verstappen, "because you don't always have to give an answer to everything, right, even if you have an opinion about it."
As for adding his comments to the post-race Red Bull protest of Canada or the FIA's driving standards and governance, he insisted: "There's not much to say about it, because I always do the same thing, every weekend.
"I'm not allowed to be critical in the press conference, because then it will be written 'Max says this, Max says that'. Then they object to that.
"Look, they can interpret anything I say as critical, and that's very clearly against the regulations. So I'd rather not say anything," the 27-year-old explained.
Verstappen also admits his reluctance to engage with the international but predominantly the English-speaking media is partially tactical. "If I just keep going like this long enough," he said when asked if F1 or the FIA will eventually change tack.
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Albon & Lawson touched on the published guidelines without receiving a single penalty point, so I still don't fully buy into Max's claim he's been hell-bent about since the Saudi Arabian GP race day.
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