After Max Verstappen called out the “British press” for not being present at his post-race press conference in Brazil, David Croft says there’s more to the story than “just a sound bite”.

Having faced scathing criticism from the media for his antics in Austin and even more so in Mexico, Verstappen bounced back to claim an emphatic victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen called out ‘British press’ for not being present in Brazil presser

In doing so he not only silenced his critics, but all talk about a Drivers’ Championship fight.

Verstappen fought back from 17th on the grid after his qualifying was blighted by the timing of a red flag in Q2 and a grid penalty for a new ICE, to win the wet race by 20 seconds.

The Red Bull driver put in a flawless drive, arguably one of the best wet-weather drives ever seen, to destroy the competition while putting one hand on the Drivers’ Championship trophy.

But in light of back-to-back weeks where he faced criticism from the likes of Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill, which he called bias, Verstappen could not resist a dig as he looked out at the people assembled for the post-race press conference.

“I have a quick question,” he said, “I appreciate you all being here but where is the British press? Do they have to run to the airport? Or do they not know where the press conference is?”

Croft, from Sky F1, was quick to downplay any suggestion that the British media skipped the press conference because of who was involved; Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

He called out Verstappen’s comment, saying on X: “Sometimes there’s more to a story than just a sound bite or a chance to attack people for perception of British bias.

“For my part, as it’s a press conference for written media only, I never attend the post race conference, no matter who’s won.

“Thursday press conferences are different, they are for broadcast and written media together. Just to help people understand.

“And the quotes from this are freely available to all media, hence other journalists might be off gathering other stories at the time, in the knowledge that they won’t miss anything said at the FIA post race presser.”

‘No Dutch media’ were present either

Meanwhile, motorsport photographer Jamey Price, who was present for the press conference, pointed out that there were also no Dutch media at the press conference.

“There was no Dutch media in the post race press conference either,” he said on X.

“By my count there was one French journalist. Four Brazilian journalists, Tom Clarkson (host), the tv camera operator… and me.”

But as PlanetF1.com’s Sam Cooper explained in a post-race AMA, logistics often play a role in who attends what as there are often more than two, if not three, briefings taking place at the same time.

“I wasn’t in Brazil but can say no, this would not have been the reason and the real reason is much less exciting,” he explained when asked why no British media was present at the FIA press conference. “It’s all to do with timing.

“So after a race, all the drivers barring the top three will come into the media zone for quick interviews. Around this time or shortly after, many of the team bosses will also speak to the media.

“So to give you some context. In Sao Paulo, Horner spoke at 4pm, Stella at 3:30pm and usually there is a conference with Toto Wolff at a similar time but he did not speak this weekend.

“This is also often the exact time that the top three are in their press conference but the difference is that my colleagues can watch that from back home so will be recording it and doing stories from it.

“I don’t think it was a snub from certain members of the media but mere logistics!”

Verstappen leads the Drivers’ Championship by 62 points with 86 points still in play.