Max Verstappen addresses ‘British bias’ in F1 media discourse in the aftermath of his collision with Lando Norris

Max Verstappen feels that the inherent British bias in the F1 media discourse is a result of English journalists making up a large part of the press pack. The Red Bull driver had a collision with friend and rival Lando Norris at the Austrian GP last weekend.

The collision was a result of both drivers going hammer and tongs against each other as they battled for the win. For the collision, Verstappen was deemed guilty by the stewards and given a 10-second penalty. Since then, the driver has made up with Norris, as the two had a conversation about it behind closed doors.

There is another aspect of the discourse that has followed the incident, with Max Verstappen facing backlash from different sections of the media. The driver has been the focus of multiple editorials, with some strong views being aired about the driver.

These editorials and coverage have led to fans accusing F1 media of ‘British bias’, similar to 2021 when Lewis Hamilton was involved in battles with Verstappen.

The ‘British bias’ allegations claim that the F1 media is one-sided in its coverage and favors British drivers. A question about such bias in the media was put forward to Verstappen in an interview with the Daily Mail, where he said that since ‘more than 80% of the F1 media is British’, they would naturally try to favor their fellow countrymen.

He also shared his view that most of the F1 driver-turned-pundits are British as well, hence the conversation ends up being ‘one-sided’. He said:

“Eighty to 85 per cent of the press in F1 is English, so you have quite a dominant force with that. In the back of their minds, most would prefer their national driver to do well or in the case of an incident naturally pick the side of their countryman. Ex-drivers, most of them are British so it’s a bit of a one-sided affair.”

He added,

“With the way I grew up, these kind of things won’t unsettle me. For me these are quite minor disturbances. I know how to focus on the race and how to get the best performance out of myself, even with what might be going on in the background.”

Fellow driver feels Max Verstappen was within the limit in the battle with Lando Norris

Fellow driver Nico Hulkenberg was questioned on his views about the collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, and he felt that it was just close racing. The German felt it was just a case of minor contact and the whole incident was ‘biffed up’. As quoted by Racingnews365, he said,

“To be honest, for me, Max wasn’t doing much. He was more or less driving a straight line, we have to leave a car width, which I think there was. There was still kerb on the left and not a wall. I think the stewards got involved quite a lot last weekend.”

While Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have seemingly made up, McLaren boss Zak Brown has taken it upon himself to raise the matter in the media, and we might see a few more chapters of the saga play out before the dust settles.