The Verstappen family has come out firing against F1’s season launch, and English fans, in an ugly postscript to last week’s extravaganza in London.
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To commemorate F1’s 75-year anniversary, a lavish two-hour, globally televised event was held at the O2, where all 10 team cars were launched alongside their drivers and team bosses.
The least popular launch appeared to be that of Red Bull’s, with team boss Christian Horner audibly receiving boos from portions of the crowd.
The act was condemned by the FIA as “tribalist” behaviour — and now Verstappen’s father, Jos, has added his voice to the disapproval.
Speaking to RaceXpress, he revealed that the hostile reception could even see his son boycott the event if held in England again.
“Max doesn’t feel like being booed in front of 25,000 people,” he is reported as saying.
Speaking of his son’s reaction, he added: “(Max) says, ‘if this is in England again next year, they certainly won’t see me there,’ and I completely agree with him.
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“You are there for Formula One to promote the sport a little bit and all. Then you are booed by the public. I think that is unacceptable.”
Verstappen added that he “understands” why English fans might’ve targeted the team, but said it was still “embarrassing” behaviour.
“Max is the only one who puts the English drivers under pressure and who tells it exactly how it is, but I think it is unacceptable and a real disappointment what happened there,” he said.
“In itself I thought it was a reasonable set-up, but I thought it was embarrassing what happened there with Red Bull Racing, that Horner was booed so much.”
Horner came under heavy fire last year as a probe was launched over allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a former female colleague.
He was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and has strongly denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, Verstappen is one-half of a growing feud with Englishman George Russell, while his main title rival last season was Lando Norris, who also hails from England.
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