07/06/2018
NEWS STORY
In the wake of the FP3 crash in Monaco which ruled him out of qualifying and therefore effectively ended his hopes of joining his teammate at the front of the grid and subsequently on the podium, it was inevitable that Max Verstappen would be asked about the incident and indeed the various others that have compromised his start to the season.
However, when a British tabloid journalist persisted with his line of questioning the Red Bull driver wasn’t happy.
Initially, asked if he enjoyed his fight through the field in Monaco, Verstappen smiled.
"I enjoyed the race," he said. "I had a good battle with Stoffel, he was not giving me a lot of room, which was good.
"I got back into the points, despite starting last, so I enjoyed myself."
Asked about comments from members of the Red Bull team that perhaps he needs to change his approach, though the smile disappeared the youngster was in no doubt.
"I get really tired of all the comments about me, that I should change my approach. I will never do that," he said, "because it's brought me to where I am now.
"After a race is not the right time to talk, everybody has those comments but I don't listen to them. I just so my own thing.
"Of course, since the beginning of the year it hasn't been going so well, not in the way I liked it, a few mistakes, especially Monaco and China, but it doesn't make sense to keep talking about it because I get really tired of it and it feels like there are no better questions out there than to keep asking me about what happened the previous weekend.
"I'm just focussing on what's ahead," he insisted, "and I'm confident, that I can turn thing around.
"The speed is there," he continued, "I've been quick every single weekend, it would be much more of a problem if I were really slow because that's a critical problem."
However, when a British tabloid subsequently asked him bluntly "why have you had so many accidents?", the youngster was clearly angered.
"I don't know," said Verstappen, following a long pause. "Like I said at the beginning of this press conference," he continued following another long pause, "I get really tired of all these questions, so... I think if I get a few more I'll head-butt someone."
Needless to say, the question was asked again, albeit by another journalist who insisted that due to the sheer number of incidents it was a legitimate question.
"I've had two which were my fault," he responded, "but I had, for example, three in one weekend in 2016. It is not as dramatic as people say it is. Of course, I haven't scored the points which I should have scored, but that was not only my fault. It could have been better, but everybody makes it so dramatic."