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guenther steiner responds to demonisation of max verstappen by british press

Verstappen demonised by Brits? 'This is why he creates controversy'

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  • Ludo van Denderen

After years of being criticised by British media and their analysts, Max Verstappen completely agreed with Adrian Newey's opinion. The designer felt that British journalists were demonising Red Bull Racing's Dutchman. However, Guenther Steiner, former Haas F1 team boss, sees things differently. He spoke about that topic during an exclusive interview with GPblog.

"No, Max obviously steers controversy because he won so much. That's the only thing," the Italian explained. "And in the end, we are all nationals. We love our own people, so I think the British press, with having quite a few English drivers, they like it more when Lewis [Hamilton], George [Russell], Lando [Norris] win than Max [Verstappen]. I don't think it's against him personally.

Steiner thinks something else is going on: "[It's] fanboy coming out in English press more than anything else. It's not like that they are against Max, because I think Max represents him and I'm not trying to be nice with him. I think he's a champion, and obviously when you're champion you're critiqued. But Max, I don't think Max gives a s**t about it," Steiner then laughed.

According to Steiner, Verstappen shrugs his shoulders

Besides, the Italian believes everyone is allowed to have their opinion. "It's like me. If you think I'm an idiot, I'm fine with it. It's like ‘hey think whatever you want’, just don't not keep on telling me, because I don't want to speak with you. And I think Max is very similar to that one. He's saying, ‘yeah, they're not my fans. Who cares?’"
Steiner earlier expressed his opinion on the community service penalty the FIA stewards imposed on Verstappen for swearing during a press conference in Singapore.