MAX VERSTAPPEN is reportedly boycotting interviews with Sky Sports at the Mexico Grand Prix.
The Red Bull ace refused to appear on Sky cameras after reporter Ted Kravitz implied he “robbed” Lewis Hamilton of the F1 title last year.
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None of the UK-based Sky Sports, or its German and Italian affiliates will be able to interview Verstappen, according to RacingNews365.com.
Dutch driver Verstappen, 25, won a maiden world title in controversial circumstances last year after overtaking Brit hero Hamilton on the final lap of the last race of the 2021 season.
He passed Hamilton after former race director Michael Masi incorrectly allowed five cars to unlap themselves after a late safety car.
Verstappen then won last weekend’s US GP in Texas after passing Hamilton late on to take the lead.
And speaking after the race, Sky reporter Kravitz claimed Hamilton had been “robbed” of an eighth title last year.
He said: “[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.”
Kravitz added: “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.”
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His comments have resulted in Verstappen snubbing Sky this weekend.
Kravitz also suggested Verstappen can’t win titles in a “normal way” last week.
Verstappen was crowned world champ for a second consecutive year earlier this month in bizarre circumstances when Charles Leclerc was given a time penalty after the Japanese GP had finished.
Kravitz said: “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.”
The Red Bull ace is on pole for this evening’s Mexico GP.
Hamilton will start second, with team-mate George Russell in third, and hometown hero Sergio Perez fourth on the grid.