Max Verstappen snaps back at Guardian journalist who asked whether he regretted his Barcelona clash with George Russell.

"Max, you lost out to Lando by just two points," said Giles Richards at the post-race press conference. "What do you think now about the incident with George Russell in Spain?" he asked. "Do you regret that looking back in hindsight?"

The Guardian journo was referring to the incident in which Verstappen was asked to hand back position to the Mercedes driver after running wide while battling Charles Leclerc and gaining an advantage. Having allowed the Briton through, the Red Bull driver "accelerated and collided" with the Briton, a move which, according to the stewards, was "undoubtedly caused by the actions" of the Dutchman who was handed a 10s penalty and three penalty points. Consequently, while he finished fifth on the road he was relegated to 10th.

"You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season," asked Verstappen of Richards. "The only thing you mention is Barcelona... I knew that would come.

"You're giving me a stupid grin now," he added. "I don't know. Yeah, it's part of racing at the end. You live and learn. The championship is one of 24 rounds. I've also had a lot of early Christmas presents given to me in the second half, so you can also question that."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 14 hours ago

"Max drove a bad car quite well & a good one well. He lost for the same reasons that other good drivers have lost - he didn't have the equipment to compete at the necessary level.
Now that Marko has been given the boot, maybe RBR can develop a more balanced driveable car and provide a decent home for an aspiring driver."

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2. Posted by Chester, 16 hours ago

"Agree fully, @Celtic Tiger. A thumping. As they say in Texas, I'm going to open a can of whoop-ass."

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3. Posted by Editor, 19 hours ago

"@ Dejan

Max scored 93% of Red Bull's points this year, and his points alone exceeded those of the Ferrari pair."

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4. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 09/12/2025 1:57

"Coincidentally, I re-watched the movie Rush not too long ago and this little bit reminds me of the scene when a prick reporter asked Lauda about what his wife thinks of his face during his press conference upon returning after the accident. Then the following scene has Hunt, pulling the journo aside, shoving him into a room and thumping the sh*te outta him.
Some of these so called "journalists" could really do with a dose of that."

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5. Posted by dejan, 08/12/2025 23:09

"Yes, Max didn't lose the championship in Barcelona, he lost it during the season mostly due to the fact that his teammates could not score points and move McLaren down the order - just one or two places back for each one could have been enough to make him champion. When one of the drivers has over 90% of the team's points something is wrong (and we could argue if it was the quality of the teammates or if the car was designe too much with Max in mind but the fact is still the same)."

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6. Posted by ffracer, 08/12/2025 15:34

"Good for Max, that was a hilarious response.

So 'Giles Richards of The Guardian' feels entitled to poke /provoke Max surrounded by other journalists... how dense.

If he even thought about his question before asking it, he would have realized that the two McLaren drivers threw out almost 100 points collectively over the course of 24 races, both of them either crashing out by themselves or into each other on many occasions... Max never did that once. Pure motive for click bait... and I clicked. "

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Verstappen snaps at journo

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