F1 champion 'did a Verstappen' and kicked top BBC insider out of team motorhome

Max Verstappen

F1 champion 'did a Verstappen' and kicked top BBC insider out of team motorhome

Damon Hill 'did a Verstappen'.

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 7 April 2026 20:57

A former F1 world champion has opened up on a time in which he ejected a British journalist, much like Max Verstappen at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Four-time champion Verstappen refused to start his round table discussion with journalists ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend until The Guardian's Giles Richards had left, telling him to 'get out'.

Verstappen later revealed why he had done it, with the Dutchman not happy with a question that Richards had asked at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP, claiming that he 'doesn't need to show respect to people who don't respect me'.

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Now, 1996 world champion Damon Hill has revealed a time when he did a similar thing to BBC Sport's Andrew Benson, who at the time was working for Autosport.

The moment centred around a story that Benson had run titled 'Has Hill been dumped?', with it reported that Williams were looking to get rid of the Brit at the end of 1996 despite his world championship victory.

As it happened, this story turned out to be true, with Williams replacing Hill with Riccardo Patrese for the start of the 1997 season, but Hill has admitted at the time to reacting to Benson's initial headline and story.

"It [the story] was on the front cover of Autosport, and it was conjecture as far as I was concerned," Hill told The Race.

"It only broke later when Frank told me that it was not a load of rubbish. I did a Max Verstappen and told Andrew, 'you can get out of here and you are not welcome'.

"Poor old Andrew scurried out. But he knew it was true, and I had to kind of dig a bit to find out."

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Verstappen's frustrations boil over

Not only did Verstappen kick out a journalist in Japan, but he also suggested that he was 'seriously considering' retiring from the sport, unless the FIA make certain changes to the new regulations.

Verstappen has had his poorest start to a season in terms of grand prix results since 2016, when he was still at Toro Rosso before making the move up to Red Bull later that year.

He is currently sat down in ninth in the drivers' championship, with just 12 points coming from the opening three race weekends for the four-time champion.

Verstappen has claimed that the new cars in 2026 are not fun to drive, and has compared F1's new rules with Mario Kart.

But some commentators, including Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, have stated that all his frustration stems from the fact that Red Bull are not quick this year, and have given him a car capable of midfield running at best.

F1 Max Verstappen Damon Hill