Max Verstappen decision made on Sky Sports boycott at Brazilian GP

Chris Evans says Max Verstappen needs to 'be a bit nicer'

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Max Verstapppen and Red Bull have made a decision on their Sky Sports boycott after they refused to speak to the broadcaster in Mexico following comments made by pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz. After the US Grand Prix, during his ‘Ted’s Notebook’ show, the 48-year-old said Lewis Hamilton was ‘robbed’ of the 2021 F1 world championship in Abu Dhabi last year.

This angered Christian Horner and co and therefore they did not provide any comments to the broadcaster at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit last month. Sky Sports’ German and Italian channels were prevented from speaking to the reigning constructors champions, but that looks set to change.

According to Dutch publication AD, Horner revealed that Verstappen and the entire Red Bull team will be available to Sky Sports again from the Brazil Grand Prix this weekend. “We were disappointed with the comments at Sky,” Horner said last month.

“Max was very angry about it and as a team we fully support him. I have therefore made the decision to take a weekend break from Sky. We believe there should be a balance in the commentary provided on television. 

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“Some of Sky’s comments are excellent, but sometimes too much sensation is sought. The world we live in is always hungry for headlines and I don’t think a broadcaster should be feeding that.

“That we are accused of stealing a world title is not correct and not fair. That’s why we wanted to show that some things are unacceptable. But the next race we will talk to Sky normally again.”

Kravitz said on his show: “[Hamilton] doesn’t win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track where he could win the first race all year, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him. What a script and a story that would have been. But that’s not the way the script turned out today, was it?

“Because the guy that beat him after being robbed actually overtook him, because he’s got a quicker car, because of engineering and Formula One and design, and pretty much because of [Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer] over there.” Following his comments, last week Verstappen said he was annoyed at the channel “being disrespectful” and suggested there was “one particular person” at the centre of the row. 

“It has been a constant kind of digging and being disrespectful, especially from one particular person,” the Dutchman said. “At one point it is enough, and I don’t accept it. You cannot live in the past and you have to move on.”

We know the driver will once again provide comments to Sky Sports at F1’s penultimate race of the season in Sao Paulo, but whether the boycott will also bring about a change in the medium’s coverage remains to be seen.

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