David Croft has vowed to continue doing his job in asking questions of F1’s leading figures after Max Verstappen landed a tongue-in-cheek jibe at him in Saudi Arabia.

Verstappen made a barbed comment in response to a question from the Sky F1 commentator regarding his future at Red Bull.

David Croft: I’ve never rowed with Max Verstappen

With all sorts of speculation and rumour about Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull, Croft took the opportunity to ask the Dutch driver about the potential possibility of him leaving the Milton Keynes-based squad after this season as Verstappen appeared in the FIA press conference on Thursday in Saudi Arabia.

Questioning whether it’s the current performance level of Red Bull that has triggered Helmut Marko’s comments asserting fears Verstappen could leave the team, or whether there are deeper reasons behind the speculation, Verstappen gave a non-committal answer, leading Croft to push the topic.

“So he’s getting the wrong end of the stick? You’re not thinking of leaving Red Bull any time?” Croft said.

Verstappen replied to say, “No. I think just focus on commentating, I’ll focus on driving. Then you don’t need to think about any other scenarios.”

The barbed comment didn’t have any venom behind it, but still led some fans on social media to call out at the moment and criticise Croft for his line of questioning.

Speaking in an interview with the UK’s The Times, Croft said it’s his job to ask such questions and says he doesn’t believe Verstappen was properly annoyed by his persistence.

“Max brushed it off,” Croft said of his initial question.

“I kind of expected that he would do, so I just said, ‘So Helmut’s got the wrong end of the stick?’ and then he said, ‘Just focus on commentating’ and I think he was joking, to be honest.

“Max and I have a really good relationship, I’ve known him from the outset. We’ve never rowed about anything — he’s never come to me and gone, ‘I don’t like what you said’.

“[But] some of the Max fans pick up on that and then just blame me for the question. That’s my job — people just choose to attack me. Fine. You can attack me as much as you want.

“I’ll be there at the next press conference, and it’s not going to put me off asking the question. In the public eye and on social media, you’ve got to have the skin of a rhino.”

Last year, Sky F1 came in for some criticism from then-Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey for being “nationalistic” in its approach to coverage of Formula 1 – a stance which Verstappen said he “basically agreed with, 100 percent” and, at the time, Croft defended the station against those accusations.

“I will try and follow the story, it’s as simple as that,” he told Australia’s Speedcafe.

“You try and follow the story, wherever that story might be, and Formula 1 is unique in that there are many different stories that happen during the course of the race.

“You’ve also got to talk to the pictures, which we have no control over, on Sky, at all – they’re all from a world feed – so you’re reacting to what that director wants to put out there.”

Croft was referring to the fact that the footage displayed on the screen is controlled by F1’s own production, with camera angles and driver choices being made from a facility at Biggin Hill in London.

How Sky makes the coverage its own is by utilising its own audio commentary, pre-race build-up, graphics, and the ability to cut to on-camera reports from trackside, the pitlane, or the paddock.

While Corft believes he offers a neutral perspective on the racing, he believes everyone watching will have their own biases.

“I try to be as impartial as I can,” he said.

“It’s really difficult to prove whether you’re impartial or not because we all watch with a bias.

“We all watch with our own bias and our own perceptions of a comment or a statement that somebody makes.

“And when you’re trying sometimes to be neutral, someone will perceive that in a completely different way.

“Do I get more excited when a British driver wins? Possibly – you might think so, I don’t know because I’m in that moment.

“Do I get more excited when it’s been a thrilling race? Yes.

“Do I get more excited when there’s a great story to go with it? Yes. Do I get excited about whoever wins? I try to.”

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