How the spotlight will return to Max Verstappen on Canadian GP media day

Thursdays always traditionally mark the start of a Formula 1 grand prix weekend – there might be no action on the track, but the entertainment can be found by popping in and out of team hospitality blocks to hear from the drivers throughout the media day.

This week in Canada, all 20 drivers will speak to the assembled press either in sessions held in their team’s respective motorhome or, if selected, during the FIA press conference held in the afternoon. There will be plenty of journalists and television crews – who get their own individual access to the drivers in separate sessions – in all of those briefings, but none will be as busy or as anticipated as when the Red Bull hospitality opens up to allow in the throng of reporters to speak to Max Verstappen.

His session is scheduled for 16:10 local time in Montreal and any other driver would have to say something extraordinary to prevent the headlines being hogged by Verstappen’s first media outing since the controversial end to the Spanish Grand Prix. If he feels like opening up, that is.

So far, only an Instagram post has shone any sort of light on Verstappen’s feelings about a number of incidents in Barcelona. The pitstop for hard tyres, being told to give a place back to George Russell despite seemingly having no need to – and of course the clash with the Mercedes driver.

Verstappen received a 10-second penalty and three penalty points on his licence, meaning the Dutchman is now just a single point away from landing himself a one-race ban – something he can ill-afford if he is to mount a serious title challenge.

Speculation and conversation has followed, does the reigning world champion need to change his abrasive style to ensure he does not find himself sidelined for a grand prix weekend?

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

The chances are, given the natural-born racer that he is, Verstappen will race how he has always raced and in a manner he has always deemed fair – but that same middle-finger-to-the-haters approach does not necessarily extend to his media duties.

In Saudi Arabia earlier this year, Verstappen refused to talk about the first-lap incident that cost him a shot at winning the race in Jeddah, claiming he could end up in hot water with the FIA and that “people can’t handle the truth”.

“The problem is that I cannot share my opinion about it because I might get penalised also. So it’s better not to speak about it,” he said at the time.

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“I think it’s better not to talk about it. Anything I say or try to say about it, it might get me in trouble.”

Verstappen has always shot from the hip during media interviews, if he felt it would have landed a psychological blow on a rival, but since Singapore last year where he was ordered to do public serviced by the FIA for swearing during the press conference, he has withdrawn himself on occasion.

So, on Thursday in Montreal, no cars will be running in anger around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve but Verstappen’s potential to respond to the controversies of Barcelona a fortnight ago could still make for blockbuster viewing.