Max Verstappen Engages in Intense and Fiery Exchange with Sky Sports Pundit During Dramatic Canadian Grand Prix, As Tensions Reach Boiling Point and Emotions Run High on and off the Track
Max Verstappen has been involved in yet another heated Sky Sports exchange, this time with F1 pundit Ted Kravitz.
Verstappen and Kravitz have had their fair share of awkward moments in the past, with the Dutchman boycotting Sky Sports at the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix after Kravitz said Lewis Hamilton was ‘robbed’ of the 2021 title.
The four-time world champion has also taken issue with other Sky Sports pundits in more recent times, with Rachel Brookes on the receiving end of a feisty post-race interview from the 27-year-old at the Spanish GP last time out.
That happened following a dramatic incident at the Barcelona race, when Verstappen appeared to intentionally crash into Mercedes star George Russell, something which landed him a 10-second time penalty, and three penalty points.
In the lead-up to the incident in Barcelona, Verstappen had become frustrated after being asked on team radio to give fourth place back to Russell, following a previous incident in which the Dutchman had ventured off-track.
However, in the aftermath of the race, FIA stewards confirmed Verstappen did not need to give the position back to Russell, ruling that no further action would be taken.
Verstappen was asked by Kravitz whether he would be talking to the person currently conducting sporting director duties at Red Bull, Stephen Knowles, about the decision to let Russell through.
That question led to a heated exchange, with Verstappen clearly not happy with Kravitz for singling out Knowles.
“I think it’s not really nice to try and single out a person to be honest,” the champion said. “Because that’s never the case so I think we just look at it as a team, we always can do better, and that’s also how we look at it in Barcelona, but it’s not fair to single out one single person.”
Max Verstappen and Ted Kravitz endured a tense exchange in Canada
Kravitz then attempted to defend his question, suggesting he was talking about Knowles because he is a well-recognised member of the team who has replaced Jonathan Wheatley and sits on the pit wall, but Verstappen was still not happy.
“Well I do not need to discuss that anyway here. If we can ever look at things we can do better then we do that like every other team, but I’m not going to stand here in front of the camera and say who was at fault exactly, we all live and learn.”
Verstappen on best behaviour in Canada
While tense interviews have become a habit for Verstappen in recent weeks as he tries to keep his championship challenge alive, the Dutchman will need to be faultless on the track in Canada.
Not only is he now 49 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri, but Verstappen is also now just one penalty point away from triggering an automatic one-race ban.
FIA rules state that if a driver picks up 12 penalty points in 12 months, they will receive a ban, and Verstappen is currently on 11 with the first two of those not set to expire until June 30.
It means he has to survive both the Canadian and Austrian grands prix without picking up anymore penalty points, with a race ban likely to be fatal to his chances of challenging for a fifth consecutive world title at this stage.
