Max Verstappen and Red Bull F1 absence confirmed after FIA summons ahead of Hungarian Grand Prix

Hungarian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen and Red Bull absence confirmed after FIA summons ahead of Hungarian Grand Prix

Red Bull's star F1 driver will not be present in the FIA's scheduled press conferences in Hungary

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Thursday 31 July 2025 11:56

Neither Max Verstappen or any other members of Red Bull F1 team have been summoned to the FIA's press conferences ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman was rather vocal about his criticisms of how the Belgian Grand Prix was managed after wet weather led to the Belgian GP being delayed by nearly 80 minutes last Sunday.

The 13th round of the 2025 campaign officially restarted at 4:20pm local time (CEST) with Verstappen and his F1 rivals returning to the track under a safety car restart, much to the 27-year-old's dislike.

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Speaking on the controversial decision, Verstappen said: "I just find it is a bit of a shame for everyone. You will never see these classic kind of wet races anymore."

But it seems fans will not get the chance to hear the Dutchman elaborate further on the matter in the FIA's official press conference on Thursday as drivers field questions from the media ahead of the final race weekend before the summer shutdown in August.

Max Verstappen has not been selected for the FIA's scheduled press conferences in Hungary

Hungarian GP press conference schedule confirmed

As part of each F1 race weekend, the FIA schedule press conferences where the media get the chance to present any questions they may have for the stars of the grid.

Saturday and Sunday's sessions feature the top three drivers from each event and therefore, cannot be summoned ahead of time. However, three scheduled press conferences take place on Thursday and Friday ahead of the weekend's action, with the former dedicated to the drivers and the latter the team principals.

This weekend in Budapest, the attention will instead shift to Red Bull's junior outfit Racing Bulls, with driver Liam Lawson selected for the second drivers' press conference on Thursday, 31 July.

Newly promoted Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has also been highlighted in the FIA's scheduled media session on Friday, where he will face questions for the first time about his role in the recent reshuffle of leadership in the Red Bull family following Christian Horner's sacking.

For Friday's session, Permane has been called upon to attend his first press conference as Racing Bulls boss, where he will be joined by McLaren principal Andrea Stella and Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola, in a week where F1's tyre provider are also running a 2026 tyre development test.

Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri are the drivers speaking first on Thursday, followed by Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll who will join Lawson in the later afternoon session.

Press conferences (all times BST)

Thursday 13:30
Pierre Gasly	Alpine
Esteban Ocon	Haas
Oscar Piastri	McLaren

Thursday 14:00
Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls

Friday 14:30
Andrea Stella	McLaren
Mario Isola	Pirelli
Alan Permane	Racing Bulls

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

View full biography

Red Bull Max Verstappen FIA Hungarian Grand Prix Belgian Grand Prix