David Croft Hits Back at Max Verstappen for ‘Attacking’ British Media After Brazil Win

Max Verstappen grabbed all the headlines during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix post-race presser last weekend when he questioned the absence of the British media. The Dutchman wondered if the British media did not know where the press conference was or whether they had to run to the airport after the race.

Unsurprisingly, people in the British media did not take Verstappen‘s claims too kindly. While the Red Bull driver did not explicitly name anyone and only passed a general comment, Sky Sports F1’s David Croft felt the need to issue an important clarification.

“Sometimes there’s more to a story than just a sound bite or a chance to attack people for perception of British bias. For my part, as it’s a press conference for written media only, I never attend the post-race conference, no matter who’s won. Thursday press conferences are different, they are for broadcast and written media together. Just to help people understand.”, wrote Croft on X (formerly Twitter).

The British commentator added that the quotes from the post-race presser are “freely available” to all media. That is why, journalists often scout the paddock for other drivers and team principals to utilize that time for other quotes and information they may miss out on.

Apparently, F1TV’s Will Buxton also made a similar point in his X post on Monday, responding to Verstappen’s light-hearted comment about the British media.

Croft made this reply after a photojournalist replied to a social media post that had uploaded Verstappen’s video byte from the press conference when the 27-year-old took a jibe at the British press.

After hearing Verstappen’s remarks, the photojournalist asked, “There was no Dutch media in the post-race press conference either”. He added that by his count, there was only one French journalist, four Brazilian journalists, host Tom Clarkson, the TV operator, and himself.

Verstappen received all kinds of responses after his jibe at the British media, so it is fair to say that he got his point across. However, none of his spoken responses would have been as powerful as his sublime drive to victory at Sao Paulo last weekend.

Verstappen issued ‘perfect response’ to British media

Over the past few weeks, most of the British media have massively criticized Verstappen for his driving style. After Verstappen received two 10-second penalties for his ‘over the limit’ defending against title rival Lando Norris at the Mexico City GP, some members of the British press slammed him for his lack of sportsmanship.

However, Verstappen was unflustered and hit back by displaying an outstanding performance on the race track in Sao Paulo. Despite starting from 17th on the grid, he went on to win the race at Interlagos and extended his lead in the championship over Norris to 62 points.

As a result of his emphatic win, there was no controversy about his driving style. Moreover, even 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill, who had slammed Verstappen because of the way he battled Norris in Mexico City, could do nothing but laud the Red Bull driver.