- Coulthard questions FIA silence after Verstappen ejects journalist.
- The Dutchman refused to speak until a specific reporter left the room.
- Coulthard notes the FIA punishes swearing but ignores this controversy.
David Coulthard appears to be startled that the FIA had no reaction over the latest Max Verstappen and journalist incident at the Japan GP. He’s referring to the media day session, when Verstappen refused to start speaking unless a specific journalist from The Guardian was out of the room.
Here, the beef between the duo dates back to Abu Dhabi 2025, when this journalist asked him his thoughts about the incident with George Russell in Barcelona and whether he had any regrets looking back at it. The question and the presentation of it clearly upset Verstappen, and it appeared that he was still holding on to grudges at Suzuka.
Coulthard pinpoints the FIA’s over-Verstappen journalist issue
In a conversation on the Up To Speed podcast, Coulthard thinks that Verstappen might not feel better about his treatment of the journalist later. Although he believes that he has the right not to answer a question, throwing someone out of the room was a bit inappropriate, according to him.
However, he was also surprised to see that the FIA had no thoughts on this, given that they always pop up to take action against drivers when a curse word is uttered on broadcast. He said, “And I’m actually a little bit surprised the FIA didn’t take a stance on it. I didn’t see anything that there was any sort of reprimand because basically if he was to say the word s**t in there, he’d get fined.”
Although Coulthard acknowledged that he never won a championship like Verstappen, he believes that he was a bit open to criticism from various journalists. He further added, “And it’s very difficult not to take it personally. So I’m sure you don’t look at the comments on some of the social feeds because there’ll be some who love you and there’ll be some that just don’t like you, and that’s the way it is.”
Verstappen reveals why he asked the journalist to “get out”
In a recent conversation, Verstappen shared his take on what upset him about the journalist and why he threw him out of the media room. He said, “But after the final race, when you ask that question and you start laughing in my face while asking the question, and it’s clearly done with bad intent to ask the question at that point, it shows a massive lack of respect.”
The Dutchman made it clear that if someone is not respectful towards him, he won’t be either. He believes that’s how life works and that he keeps it straightforward. That’s why he removed the journalist from the room, as he believed what happened back then was not correct and lacked respect.
He explained, “I have a lot of respect for everyone. I get asked a lot of questions, a lot of stupid questions as well, but I answer them. It’s not always that a question is great or whatever; that’s part of Formula 1. But in this particular case, it was clearly done with bad intent.” Reflecting on the moment, he revealed that people are unable to see behind the cameras of how questions are asked. But he saw the way the journalist asked the question and found it disrespectful.
