Verstappen Points To 'Unfair' Comments As He Speaks Out On British Bias
F1
Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen discussed his view on the British bias in F1 after winning his fourth title in Las Vegas.
Max Verstappen sealed his drivers' championship title in Las Vegas after a 22-race-long title battle with British McLaren driver Lando Norris.
The two met on the track multiple times throughout the season, and their battles were always the hardest, sometimes over the line, ending with a collision or huge penalties, such as 20 seconds for the Red Bull driver in Mexico City.
The four-time World Champion expressed already earlier that he could feel the British bias in the media as the majority of it was English-speaking - based in the UK.
Consequently, when Verstappen is fighting a British driver as he did in 2021 or this year- 2024, he felt like the media showed who they preferred in critical moments - such as after the collision with Norris in Austria.
Speaking ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, the Dutchman clarified what he means when he says that he can feel the bias against him. As reported by the Independent, he said:
"Sometimes in racing situations, or battles, or certain penalties, and the way people look at success and how much credit they give you or not, I definitely feel that there is a bias."
"The problem in F1 is that 80 to 85 per cent of the media is British. And I did feel that some things which were written about me were not fair."
"I am not going to sit here and single out one broadcaster, but I just had to laugh about what was said. I was like, 'whatever.'"
Sky Sports' Damon Hill (1996 Champion) compared Verstappen to Wacky Races villain Dick Dastardly following the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, and Martin Brundle (9-time podium finisher) suggested his sporting attitude would forever taint his legacy.
"At the end of the day yes, (I have four titles) and they are the ones in front of a microphone. I speak out. I don't care. If I don't agree with something I will tell you."
"On the track, I will put it all on the line. I am not going to back out. I want to win. That needs to be the end result. Some people criticize me for that."
"But most of them don't have a championship-winning mentality so they don't understand, and they will never understand that kind of approach."
When the four-time World Champion was asked whether he thinks the British bias will go away after he raised this issue, he replied:
"It depends a lot if you are fighting against a British driver. If I was fighting Charles [Leclerc] for example, it would be way less of a problem."— <br>
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