The FIA called it tribalist. Jos Verstappen suggested his son may skip F1 events in the future if the behavior continued. Yes, booing has been one of the hottest topics in the motorsport space since all 10 teams revealed their liveries at London’s F1 75 launch.

Ask Max Verstappen, though, and you may not get the answer you’d expect!

Max Verstappen responds to booing during F1 75 launch

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

On February 18, Formula 1 made history by inviting all 10 teams to London’s O2 Centre for a series-wide livery launch designed to commemorate the sport’s 75th anniversary.

A relatively lighthearted event whose tone was set by emcee Jack Whitehall’s good-natured roasts of the drivers took a turn when mentions of Christian Horner and the FIA were greeted with stadium-wide booing.

Since then, discourse has raged about whether or not booing is appropriate in Formula 1.

Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, at pre-season testing in Bahrain, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said that the booing didn’t come as a surprise, but that there was some “disappointment” stemming from the crowd’s disdain for a four-time World Champion.

The FIA, for its own part, released a statement condemning what it called a “tribalist reaction,” while Jos Verstappen, Max’s father, suggested that his son may boycott future events in England if he were to continue to be bombarded with boos.

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But what did Max Verstappen think about the whole affair? He seems to have taken a slightly different view of things; when asked about his reaction to the booing in a multi-driver pre-testing press conference, Verstappen asked, “There was any booing?

“I didn’t hear any. Maybe I’m deaf.”

It was a remarkably tongue-in-cheek answer for the defending World Champion, but he made his true feelings known by following up with, “Like, I don’t really need to talk about it. It’s not worth my time.”

Verstappen’s take on the affair seems to be similar to that of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who suggested that Verstappen wasn’t the target of the crowd’s displeasure; rather, the crowd was booing Christian Horner and hadn’t finished doing so by the time Verstappen emerged.

The booing discourse seems to be a natural carryover from 2024’s allegations that British media faces some level of bias against non-British drivers like Max Verstappen. Though it was Verstappen himself who raised those concerns, the four-time Champion now seems prepared to move beyond those discussions heading into 2025.

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