British Media 'Not Against' Verstappen Steiner Suggests

Monday, 07 October 2024 at 22:00

Guenther Steiner suggested he didn't think the British media were necessarily biased against Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen.

Adrian Newey recently said that British media (namely Sky Sports) was partially to blame for the demonization of Max Verstappen.

As it stands, three drivers are driving under the British flag in Formula 1 (Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and Lando Norris), and many fans, in comments on our social media (Racing Infinity on Facebook), agreed that they felt the British media favored these drivers.

In his latest interview with GPblog, former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner shared his opinion, partially agreeing that national drivers tend to be favored. However, he also suggested he didn't think anyone was biased against Verstappen:

"No, Max obviously steers controversy because he won so much. That's the only thing."

"And in the end, we are all nationals. We love our own people, so I think the British press, with having quite a few English drivers, they like it more when Lewis [Hamilton], George [Russell], Lando [Norris] win than Max [Verstappen]. I don't think it's against him personally."

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Sky Sports commentator David Croft addressed the accusations from fans, saying he was always doing his best to remain impartial and wasn't aware of saying anything wrong. Steiner continued:

"[It's] fanboy coming out in English press more than anything else. It's not like that they are against Max, because I think Max represents him and I'm not trying to be nice with him."

"I think he's a champion, and obviously when you're champion you're critiqued. But Max, I don't think Max gives a s**t about it."

"It's like me. If you think I'm an idiot, I'm fine with it. It's like 'Hey think whatever you want', just don't keep on telling me, because I don't want to speak with you. And I think Max is very similar to that one. He's saying, 'Yeah, they're not my fans. Who cares?'"

Verstappen himself already discussed this topic, and while he indeed didn't seem concerned, he confirmed he could feel that most British media were biased towards their national drivers.