Ted Kravitz Responds to Fiery Max Verstappen Interview

Newsweek

15 hours ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz reflected on an intense exchange with Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the lead-up to the Canadian Grand Prix.
Kravitz quizzed Verstappen on who decided to give the position back to Mercedes' George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix.
After the Mercedes and Red Bull made contact at the race, engineer Gianpiero Lambiase came on the radio and told Verstappen to give the place to Russell to avoid a penalty.
The Dutch driver boiled over after receiving the order, purposely hitting Russell when seemingly giving the place back.
Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports in the paddock during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco on May 22, 2025 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports in the paddock during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco on May 22, 2025 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
Photo byLambiase did not make the decision, Kravitz theorized, but rather the decision came from someone at the top.
During the Verstappen interview, the journalist asked if Red Bull's head of sporting regulations, Steven Knowles, was the person responsible for the decision.
"Since Jonathan Wheatley went, obviously, you have Steven Knowles who is doing it," Kravitz said.
"I assume it was him who told GP [Lambiase] to tell you to give the place back to George, which wasn't the right call. The stewards later confirmed that.
"How are you working that out with him? Obviously, he's not been in the job too long since Jonathan's gone to Sauber. How are you working that out that same situation doesn't happen again?"
Verstappen came away feeling Kravitz was trying to throw Knowles under the bus and called out the reporter for the leading question.
"I think it's not really nice to try single out a person to be honest, because that's never the case. I think we just look at it as a team," Verstappen told Kravitz.
"What we always can do better, and that's also how we look at it in Barcelona. But it's not fair to now single out one single person."
Despite Kravitz's repeated attempts to get some information out of Verstappen, the driver made it clear that he was not going to discuss team matters on camera.
"If we ever look at things that we can do better, we do that like every other team," the Dutch driver said.
"But I'm not going stand here in front of the camera and say who was at fault exactly."
Sky eventually ended the interview, but during a follow-up segment, Kravitz clarified what his question meant.
"He wasn't in a particularly receptive mood about [the George Russell incident], so I thought I'd go with a question about the team mistake that led to that message in error to give the place back to Russell," Kravitz explained.
"I asked him a question that I thought was going to be on his side, and understood his annoyance that set that whole fateful minute and a half off in the first place.
"I said to him, 'What are you going to be doing to improve the dialogue with your rules man – a guy called Stephen Knowles, who's taken over from Jonathan Wheatley – to make sure that doesn't happen again?'.
"Max either misunderstood it by accident or took a rather over-negative interpretation of what I was saying.
"What was I meant to do? Was I meant to say an 'unnamed team representative that deals with the rules?'"
Kravitz and Red Bull clashing is nothing new. Red Bull previously withdrew media credentials for Sky Sports due to "unbalanced" reporting in the aftermath of the 2021 Abu Dhabi season finale.
The reporter claimed that Lewis Hamilton was "robbed" of the championship, a comment that Verstappen and Red Bull did not take kindly to.
Since then, both parties have made amends, though their latest clash might have reopened old wounds.