Max Verstappen is refusing to appear on camera for Sky Sports or any of its affiliated channels during the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, RacingNews365.com has learned. Verstappen's boycott of UK-based Sky Sports and its German and Italian affiliates comes after the network’s reporter Ted Kravitz implied after last week's United States Grand Prix that Lewis Hamilton was robbed of the 2021 title. Hamilton had been set to win last year's title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and claim his eighth World Championship, but lost out after a late-race Safety Car period bunched the pack up, and rules governing lapped cars overtaking were applied selectively. This allowed Verstappen, on much fresher tyres, to attack and pass Hamilton on the last lap to take the win and the 2021 title.
Anti-Verstappen bias on Sky?
Discussing last weekend's United States Grand Prix, which Verstappen won after passing Hamilton for the lead five laps from the end, Kravitz likened the situation to the script of a movie, and referenced Mercedes' supposed inferiority to Verstappen's Red Bull this year. "[Hamilton] doesn't win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track where he could win the first race all year, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him," said Kravitz. "What a script and a story that would have been. But that's not the way the script turned out today, was it? "Because the guy that beat him after being robbed actually overtook him, because he's got a quicker car, because of engineering and Formula 1 and design, and pretty much because of [Adrian Newey, Red Bull's Chief Technical Officer] over there." Earlier in the United States Grand Prix weekend, Kravitz had also made reference to Verstappen not winning titles in a 'normal way', after the Dutchman was confirmed as the 2022 Drivers' Champion after the Japanese Grand Prix when Charles Leclerc received a penalty dropping him from second to third. "Verstappen is around the [Austin] paddock, he seems very happy with himself. He doesn't seem to be a driver capable of winning a championship in a normal way," said Kravitz.
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