Max Verstappen accused Sky Sports of being "disrespectful" as he explained why Red Bull chose to avoid speaking to the broadcaster at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Dutchman decided not to speak to Sky this weekend, upset over a comment made by pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz a week earlier. In his post-race analysis, he had suggested Lewis Hamilton was "robbed" at last season's Abu Dhabi finale.
Irritated by recent coverage from Sky, the rest of the Red Bull team joined in with the boycott. It meant during the race weekend, the drivers, team principal Christian Horner and the rest of the team's staff decided not to speak to the broadcaster.
Verstappen won the race as Mercedes blinked first with a tyre strategy which hampered his closest rival Hamilton. And after the race, he shed more light on his decision not to speak to Sky reporters this weekend.
"It had nothing to do with this weekend, but this year has been a constant, kind of like digging and being disrespectful, especially from one particular person," said the Dutchman. "At some point, it's enough, I don't accept it. You can't live in the past, you just have to move on.
"Social media is a very toxic place, and if you are constantly being like that on live TV, you make it only worse instead of trying to make it better in the world."
Team principal Horner also spoke about the issue as he sat down with reporters after the race. "We're disappointed with a series of derogatory comments that have been made on Sky, so we felt this weekend we would take a break, and that it wouldn't do Sky any harm, us taking a break.
"There needs to be balance in commentary. Some of the commentary is excellent, but some of the pieces... there is too much sensationalisation [sic] being done. We stand together as a team – and it's not just Sky UK, it's been across all the Sky channels in Germany and Italy."
Horner went on to confirm that the boycott was planned only for this weekend, before explaining why they decided to make a point in this way. "It was just to register our discontent. Sometimes some of the less impartial comments, some of the accusations that are made – TV seems to be becoming more sensationalised.
"Accusations of a championship being 'robbed', that's not something we feel is impartial commentary. Obviously, we don't feel that is in any way fair or balanced. Max was very upset about it, and as a team we support him fully." Horner also suggested he feels his team gets more negative critique than their rivals, adding: "I think Red Bull are a cheap target sometimes."
