Guardian journalist ejected from Max Verstappen press conference over question raised in Abu Dhabi.

"I'm not speaking before he's leaving" said the four-time world champion after spotting The Guardian's Giles Richards in the Red Bull hospitality area where the press conference was being held.

It was in Abu Dhabi, after Verstappen missed out on the title by two points, despite winning the final three races of the season, that Richards raised the Dutchman's ire.

"Max, you lost out to Lando by just two points," said Richards. "What do you think now about the incident with George Russell in Spain? Do you regret that looking back in hindsight?"

"You forget all the other stuff that happened in my season," replied Verstappen. "The only thing you mention is Barcelona. I knew that would come. You're giving me a stupid grin now. I don't know.

"Yeah, it's part of racing at the end," he added. "You live and learn. The championship is one of twenty-four rounds. I've also had a lot of early Christmas presents given to me in the second half, so you can also question that."

Spotting Richards in the audience today, Verstappen said: "One second, I'm not speaking before he's leaving", to which the Guardian journo replied: "Seriously?"

The back and forth continued, with Richards feigning incredulity that Verstappen remains miffed by the question - while the rest of us remain shocked that a Guardian journo had seemingly defended a Briton.

"You're really, really that upset about it?" asked Richards.

"Get out. Yeah. Get out," said the Red Bull driver as Richards got up and left. At which point the four-time world champion said: "Now we can start."

It is not the first time that Verstappen has had a run-in with the media, especially the British media. In 2022, he boycotted Sky Sports over the Mexico weekend following Ted Kravitz's claim that Lewis Hamilton had been "robbed" of the 2021 title, while in Qatar in 2024, having won the title, which involved some very close-quarter battles with Lando Norris, the Dutchman opined that "the problem in F1 is that 80 to 85% of the media is British. And I feel that some things which were written about me were not fair."