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Sky Sports commentator Croft reacts to Verstappen's 'British media' jibe
Sky Sports commentator David Croft has responded to the 'British media' jibe that came from Max Verstappen in Sunday's press conference after the Brazilin Grand Prix. The Dutchman drove a faultless race at Inrerlagos, navigating the tricky conditions brilliantly to take victory from P17 and fire back to his critics after he was questioned on his driving style after the Mexican Grand Prix.
After Verstappen received two ten-second time penalties for forcing title rival Lando Norris off the track in Mexico City, there was a lot of criticism, with many of it stemming from the British media, that the Dutchman could, and maybe should, change his driving style.
However, Verstappen's style that came into question was used to its best ability, mastering the wet and wild conditions in Sao Paulo like no one else could, winning from 17th and landing a decisive blow in the drivers' championship. Afterwards, in the post-race press conference, Verstappen questioned why no British media were present, saying, "They have to run to the airport? Or they don't know where the press conference is?"
Croft responds to Verstappen's remark
However, speaking on X, formerly Twitter, after the Grand Prix, Croft, who is usually present in Thursday's press conference, explained why he and many other Britus media outlets were not at Sunday's conference: "Sometimes there’s more to a story than just a sound bite or a chance to attack people for perception of British bias. For my part, as it’s a press conference for written media only, I never attend the post-race conference, no matter who’s won."
The F1 commentator continued by saying, "Thursday press conferences are different, they are for broadcast and written media together. Just to help people understand. And the quotes from this are freely available to all media, hence other journalists might be off gathering other stories at the time, in the knowledge that they won’t miss anything said at the FIA post-race presser."
This article was created in collaboration with Nicole Mulder
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