Max Verstappen sparked a verbal confrontation ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on Thursday when he refused to start his press conference until a British journalist left the room. The Red Bull star sat down to speak to reporters at the team's hospitality suite in Suzuka, but then said, "I'm not speaking before he's leaving", and gestured at Giles Richards, a journalist from the Guardian newspaper. Richards asked Verstappen if his demand was because of a question he had asked the driver last season, to which the four-time world champion replied "yes" and told him to "get out". 

He left and Verstappen continued with the press conference. Richards later told AFP that the incident stemmed from a question he had asked Verstappen after the Dutchman missed out on a fifth world title to Lando Norris, by two points, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December. The question centred on the impact of a penalty that Verstappen had picked up for ramming Mercedes driver George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix in June. Richards subsequently wrote in the Guardian that he was "deeply disappointed" to have been ejected from the news conference.