Max Verstappen is no stranger to a run-in with reporters and the latest example came in Suzuka on Thursday. This time it was Giles Richards of The Guardian newspaper in his crosshairs – as soon as Verstappen noticed his presence in Red Bull hospitality, he said: “I’m not speaking before he leaves.” And when Richards questioned the request, the Dutch driver told him to “get out”.

Once Richards had left, Verstappen continued the session as normal. Because it was a session put on by Red Bull and not an official FIA press conference, it would have been up to the team rather than the governing body to decide who was permitted to attend.

Verstappen confirmed during the brief row before the session that he was still holding a grudge over an exchange between them after the Abu Dhabi GP from last December. Richards asked him if he regretted clashing with George Russell in Barcelona earlier in the year, which incurred a penalty costing him nine world championship points – he finished the year just two behind Lando Norris. Verstappen’s response, among other words, was to say that the reporter was wearing “a stupid grin”.

The four-time world champion has had several flashpoints with reporters in the past, especially the British media. Many regular reporters in the F1 paddock do represent outlets in the UK and Verstappen pointed to that fact at the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix when he said: “The problem in F1 is that 80 to 85 percent of the media is British. And I did feel that some things which were written about me were not fair.”

Two years earlier, the Red Bull team had largely boycotted the UK arm of Sky Sports’ F1 coverage at the Mexican Grand Prix at Verstappen’s request, as he felt their coverage of him in the weeks and months prior had been “disrespectful”. It was understood at the time that he had taken particular exception to pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz suggesting Lewis Hamilton had been “robbed” the previous year, referring to the controversial title decider in Abu Dhabi.

In that same interview in Qatar two years ago, Verstappen vowed: “I don’t care – if I don’t agree with something, I will tell you.” A week later, in Abu Dhabi, I sat down with Verstappen for a one-on-one interview and used some of my time to ask if he truly believed that British journalists are biased against him.

He replied: “There always will be a little bit of a natural bias, which is fine. That happens in every country. The only thing is that, of course, when you’re from the UK and you speak English, it’s taken over a lot all over the world because the [British] media is like 85 percent of what is in the paddock, right?

“So whatever is said has much more weight to it. And that’s why I think sometimes they have to be a little bit more responsible in what they say, because they know it can have a massive influence.”

I also asked him if he feels some of what is said about him feels, from his perspective, like a personal attack. He said: “Yeah, [it’s] probably a little bit [personal]. But I’m the same – I also like some people more than others. But again, if that happens, I will speak out. I’m not going to just let them say whatever they want.”

He certainly followed through on that in Suzuka on Thursday, as worrying as it is to see an athlete be allowed to deny access to a journalist over a question that they didn’t like. Especially a perfectly reasonable one like the one from Richards in Abu Dhabi last December was.

There’s no doubt Verstappen isn’t at his happiest right now, given Red Bull’s performance problems and his overall disdain for racing in this new generation of F1 cars. More tough questions are no doubt going to come. It will be interesting to see how he responds to the next one.