“That’s how he is”: Max Verstappen’s father addresses alleged British Media bias against the 4x F1 Champ

Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen recently addressed the alleged British media bias against his son. He explained how the four-time-world champion no longer gets bothered by the negative criticisms he receives.

In the F1 space, there has been a constant debate about whether British media houses are biased against Max Verstappen. In September 2024, Red Bull's former aero wizard, Adrian Newey, told High Performance Podcast that Verstappen was being negatively criticized by the British media.

The comment from Newey was mentioned by Formule1.nl during Jos Verstappen's interview last week. They asked for his take on his son being criticized by the British media.

In response, the former F1 driver claimed that Newey was right about British media denouncing Max Verstappen. However, he added that his son does not care about all the negative criticisms coming his way.

"He's been in F1 for a long time and sees it happening. He's right about that. Max doesn't care. He ignores them as much as possible and is above them. He's a bit shorter at press conferences, he doesn't say too much," Verstappen Sr. said.

"Max only gets better from unjustified criticism, more irritated. That’s how he is. We saw that in Brazil, for example. So let them do it. If you’re talking about his way of defending: other drivers understand it. There was a world title at stake. And that McLaren sometimes disagreed, that’s logical. That rivalry exists, on and off the track, that’s good for the sport,” he added.

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Max Verstappen comments on British media bias existing in F1

While Max Verstappen's father believes his son gets criticized by British media, the four-time world champion himself felt the same.

According to the Independent, the Red Bull star spoke to the PA media agency and said he has felt the bias against himself in terms of certain racing incidents, penalties, and more.

“Sometimes in racing situations, or battles, or certain penalties, and the way people look at success and how much credit they give you or not, I definitely feel that there is a bias," Verstappen said.

He also talked about how most media houses that cover F1 are English but added that he would not point out any particular publication that has written negatively about him.

"The problem in F1 is that 80 to 85 per cent of the media is British. And I did feel that some things which were written about me were not fair," Verstappen said. "I am not going to sit here and single out one broadcaster, but I just had to laugh about what was said. I was like: ‘Whatever.’"

While Max Verstappen has had a rough time with media off the track, his on-track performances have not been affected. He won his fourth consecutive world championship in 2024.