Why Verstappen is leaving 2024 feuds behind in hunt for a fifth F1 crown

Max Vestappen initially joked he might have conveniently fallen ill to miss the F175 launch event at London’s O2 Arena, but instead the reigning, four-time world champion showed up and was again the man on form when it came to addressing the media.

There were plenty of topics to choose from, given his seemingly innate ability at courting column inches is equal to his quality behind the wheel.

An all-too public fallout with George Russell, his take on the latest FIA mandate regarding swearing and the pretenders to his crown were all topics the Dutchman was met with on the bowels of the media centre, tucked away in the Intercontinental Hotel in the shadow of the O2.

His back and forth with Russell was always going to be something that was addressed. The Mercedes man himself discussed it during his exclusive interview with Autosport this month.

Verstappen, though, shrugged his shoulders when the question was put to him: “Honestly, I have no intention to continue any kind of beef in February, like I’m still enjoying my time, actually, away from Formula 1 and just getting ready for the season. So, I have nothing to say about that subject.”

Okay. No dice. How about the idea of drivers being hit with huge fines for swearing during a grand prix weekend? Could it lead to F1 drivers striking en masse?

“I think everyone is quite clear,” Verstappen said. “I’m not going to speak for everyone, but I think everyone is in the same direction.

“It’s not necessary to do something like that, but I think it’s important that we can have a discussion about this. At the same time, we also need help from others, from teams, promoters, we can have a proper discussion about this as well, because we’re all in this together at the end of the day.

“I don’t even need to say too much, right? Because I think if you just look at everyone’s reaction to it, that says enough. Of course, I understand that you cannot always swear everywhere you go.

“We all understand that as racing drivers, but sometimes in the heat of the moment, or when you get interviewed, when you’re in your car, you’ve just had an adrenaline rush, sometimes things slip out a little bit.

“Plus, we all grew up. It happens that you use a swear word, and I think we shouldn’t take it so seriously. I’m also not going to tell you how you should behave in life.”

With the dictaphones still trained on him, Verstappen was then asked about his actual day job. Can he become a five-time consecutive world champion, despite McLaren’s Lando Norris being the odds-on favourite?

“We just have to focus on ourselves,” he said. “There’s no point in looking at others, we know we have things to work on with the car and that’s what we are doing.”