David Croft vowed to continue asking Max Verstappen’s difficult questions despite his “focus on comments” jive for the Dutch.
Verstappen brought a brutal response to Croft at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Prix press conference on Thursday.
Croft asked about Verstappen’s future and referred to Helmut Marco’s comments and stated that he was “fearing” about losing a star driver.
“So he’s getting the wrong end of the stick? Are you thinking about leaving Red Bull someday?” Croft said.
Verstappen responded immediately. “No. I’m just focusing on comments. I’m focusing on driving. I don’t need to think about other scenarios.”
Verstappen’s response led to fans getting even more criticism of the Sky F1 commentator.
In an interview with The Times, Croft worked on a exchange. “Max brushed it off,” Croft said.
“I thought he was going to do it, so I said, ‘Does Helmut have the wrong end of the stick?” And he said, “I’m just focusing on the comments.” To be honest, I think he was joking.
“Max and I have a really good relationship. I knew him from the start. We didn’t row anything.
“(But) some of the biggest fans pick it up and then blame me for the question. That’s my job – people just choose to attack me.
“I’ll be there at my next press conference, but I’m not going to put off asking questions. In public eyes and social media, you need to have rhino skins.”
The history of Verstappen with Sky Sports
Verstappen refused to speak to Sky Sports at the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.
The Dutch were unhappy with Ted Kravitz’s comments about Abu Dhabi in 2021.
Speaking about the reasons for the boycott, Verstappen said: “It had nothing to do with this weekend, but this year I was digging, especially a certain person.
“You can’t live in the past. You need to move on. At the moment, social media is a very toxic place and if you’re always live on TV, you’re always making it worse, not trying to get it better in the world.
“You keep disrespecting me, and at one point I’m not tolerating it anymore. So I decided to stop answering.”