Johnny Herbert addresses Max Verstappen's cheeky dig at the British media during the post-race press conference
FIA steward and surprise adversary Johnny Herbert has given his take on Max Verstappen's cheeky dig at the British media during the post-race press conference in the Brazilian GP. The last few race weekends have been filled with multiple instances of the driver hinting that there's bias against him when it comes to the media.
Not only that, there were assertions from his father, Jos Verstappen, that the presence of some of the stewards (pointing to Herbert) had a conflict of interest.
The intensity continued throughout the weekend in Brazil as on Thursday, during the press conference, Max Verstappen asserted that he had the wrong passport for the sport, alleging once again the presence of British bias in the sport. Things got worse as the weekend continued, and a couple of close calls went against Verstappen, which led to the driver being forced to start the race from P17.
It all turned on its head, however, on Sunday when Verstappen drove through the field to win the F1 Brazilian GP. The Red Bull driver was in a jovial mood in the press conference as he took a cheeky dig at the British media in the press conference, questioning why they were not present.
Johnny Herbert addressed the dig at the media in his interview with SafestBettingSites.co.uk, commending Verstappen's awareness of the sport. He said,
“I loved Max’s sense of humour in the press conference. He is so aware of what is going on around him. That is why Max is so popular. Yes, he has an edge. You have to be, to be a champion. Sometimes in certain incidents a lot of people don’t agree."
Herbert added:
"I didn’t agree with what he did in Mexico, but he has shown that he can rise above it all and still does have a great sense of humour. He does get a bit of a hard time and sometimes doesn’t help himself, but fundamentally he is a very decent guy.”
Max Verstappen's cheeky dig at the British media after the F1 Brazilian GP
Max Verstappen took a cheeky dig at the British media in the F1 Brazilian GP post-race press conference when he questioned why they were not present. As explained later by multiple media members, often for the post-race press conferences, it's hard to juggle between them and the post-race scrum with 17 other drivers.
For the press conference, there were very few media members present, with almost no British media. During the press conference, Verstappen pointed it out as he said:
“I have a quick question here. I appreciate all of you being here, but I don’t see any British press. Did they have to run to the airport – or they don’t know where the press conference is?”
This back and forth might die down soon in the upcoming weeks as Max Verstappen is more or less certain to secure the title now with his win in the F1 Brazilian GP.