That is the sensational claim of the Red Bull driver’s father, Jos Verstappen, after the reigning World Champion was booed at London’s O2 Arena.
Formula 1 hosted its inaugural collective season-launch event in London earlier this week, with all 20 drivers in attendance as the teams unveiled their new liveries for the F1 2025 season.
Boos were heard when Verstappen appeared on screen at the event, with the Dutchman and team-mate Liam Lawson the only drivers not to address the audience when they took to the stage – a decision that was made by Red Bull early in the planning process for the event, in a bid to avoid bland and trite comments without substance after a long day of lengthy media commitments.
Climbing up onto the stage to the refrain of the Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up, the team’s in-garage victory song, as a tribute to the team’s late founder Dietrich Mateschitz, Christian Horner was also given a negative reception by the crowd.
But Horner was unfazed by the jeers as he acknowledged the reception with “Well, it’s fantastic to be here in the O2 anyway!”
An idea mooted early in the planning phase to celebrate Verstappen’s fourth consecutive World Championship with a pyrotechnics and light show also didn’t come to fruition, with Red Bull’s launch video instead focusing on car culture via a video feature before the RB21’s livery was revealed.
Verstappen is understood to have been unhappy with the, at best, mixed reception he received from the predominantly British crowd and has, as a consequence, signalled his intention to not appear at any similar events in the United Kingdom in future.
This stance is understood to have been acknowledged internally within Red Bull, who are also understood to be unhappy with how the event played out having been under the impression of having a mixed demographic audience, rather than a predominantly British audience coming off the back of defeats in recent years for home heroes Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton – an audience which was never going to greet Verstappen with enthusiasm.
Verstappen’s father, Jos, has urged British fans to “take a hard look” at their behaviour after subjecting the four-time World Champion to “a rampage” on Tuesday evening, and said the four-time F1 World Champion has told him he will “definitely” not be back for a similar event in the UK any time soon.
He told Dutch publication RaceXpress: “Max has no appetite for that, to be booed like that in front of 25,000 people [sic].
“He also says: ‘If this is in England next year, they definitely won’t see me.’
“I couldn’t agree more with him. You’re there to promote the sport and showcase the new colour schemes of the cars, but when they go on a rampage like that, the question is: what are you there to do?
“He has to get ready to go there anyway, but then you get booed like that.
“I think they should take a hard look at that because that doesn’t belong in this sport.”
Verstappen Sr’s comments come after he came to the defence of his son and team boss Horner, with whom he was embroiled in a well-documented row last year.
He said: “In itself, I thought [the event] was a reasonable setup, only I thought it was shameful what happened there with Red Bull Racing.
“That Christian Horner was booed like that and Max was booed too.
“You do it for Formula 1, you are there to promote the sport and then you are booed by the public.
“I don’t think that’s acceptable.
“I get it because Max is the only one who fires up those Englishmen and says exactly where it’s at.
“But I don’t think this is acceptable. It really is a disappointment what happened there.”
The FIA also came in for booing from the audience at the O2 Arena, although sources have indicated this is all part of being the enforcer and regulator of F1’s rulebooks – the greater concern for the governing body has been on addressing the area of disrespect for competitors within Formula 1.
The FIA is taking the topic of online abuse particularly seriously, having recently launched a United Against Online Abuse initiative, and tribalistic behaviour as was on display at the O2 undermines efforts to tackle this area.
A statement from the FIA to PlanetF1.com said: “Great rivalries throughout the history of motorsport have contributed to making it such an exciting experience for fans.
“But what underpins sport at all levels is a culture of respect. As such, it was disappointing to hear the crowd’s tribalist reaction to FIA Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen and his Red Bull Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner, at the F1 launch in London.
“Max and Christian have both contributed greatly to the sport we love. In the season ahead we should not lose sight of that.
“As part of the FIA’s commitment to protect the integrity of the sport, we are leading a coalition tackling online abuse in sport under the banner of our United Against Online Abuse campaign.
“We stand with all of our competitors, officials, volunteers, and fans to unite against this growing threat.
“We urge the sporting community to consider the impact of their actions both online and offline.”
The topic is understood to be on the agenda for discussion at a meeting of the World Motorsport Council this Wednesday.
