After Max Verstappen called out the “British press” for
not being present at his post-race press conference in Brazil, David Croft says
there’s more to the story than “just a sound bite”.
Having faced scathing criticism from the media for his
antics in Austin and even more so in Mexico, Verstappen bounced
back to claim an emphatic victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen called out ‘British press’ for not being
present in Brazil presser
In doing so he not only silenced his critics, but all
talk about a Drivers’ Championship fight.
Verstappen fought back from 17th on the grid after his
qualifying was blighted by the timing of a red flag in Q2 and a grid penalty
for a new ICE, to win the wet race by 20 seconds.
The Red Bull driver put in a flawless drive,
arguably one
of the best wet-weather drives seen, to destroy the competition while
putting one hand on the Drivers’ Championship trophy.
But in light of back-to-back weeks where he faced
criticism from the likes of Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill, which he called
bias, Verstappen could not resist a dig as he looked out at the people
assembled for the post-race press conference.
“I
have a quick question,” he said, “I appreciate you all being here but where
is the British press? Do they have to run to the airport? Or do they not know
where the press conference is?”
Croft, from Sky F1, was quick to downplay any
suggestion that the British media skipped the press conference because of who
was involved; Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
He called out Verstappen’s comment, saying on X: “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.
“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.”
‘No Dutch media’ were present either
Meanwhile, motorsport photographer Jamey Price, who was
present for the press conference, pointed out that there were also no Dutch
media at the press conference.
“There was no Dutch media in the post race press conference
either,” he said on X.
“By my count there was one French journalist. Four Brazilian journalists, Tom Clarkson (host), the tv camera operator… and me.”
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