Dutch journalist Jack Plooij has demonstrated his support for Sky F1 journalist and reporter Ted Kravitz, who has come under fire following Red Bull’s decision to boycott any interviews with the broadcaster across the Mexican Grand Prix.
As a result of Max Verstappen feeling like the network was “disrespecting” him, the Dutchman decided that he wouldn’t speak to any of Sky’s networks at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with usual service resuming at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Red Bull supported Verstappen’s boycott and opted for the entire team to avoid interviews with the broadcaster, in what appeared to be somewhat of a lesson that the Austrians were trying to teach.
The decision comes as a result of Sky’s handling of the 2021 season finale, and most recently, Red Bull’s ‘minor’ budget cap breach.
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Sky UK’s impartiality has been questioned by Red Bull boss Christian Horner, with Verstappen having admitted after the race, which he won, that “one particular person” had disrespected him.
That person appears to be Kravitz, who in a recent episode of his post-session show ‘Ted’s Notebook’, referred to Lewis Hamilton as an eight-time World Champion and that former race director Michael Masi ‘robbed’ him.
What Kravitz truly said appears to have been misinterpreted, with Plooij suggesting that “cuts were made” to make the veteran reporter look bad.
Since Red Bull chose to boycott Sky in Mexico, Kravitz has been the victim of vile online abuse, with virtually all of his social media posts being flooded by abusive comments.
Plooij revealed that he’d spoken to the British journalist and even revealed a WhatsApp message between the two, where the Sky reporter explains that he didn’t say what Red Bull “think I did”.
“I spoke to Ted this morning,” Plooij said on Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport.
“If you listen carefully to that interview, he’s walking through the paddock and he says it would be a very nice script for a film.
“So cuts were made to that, so everyone only gets to hear that last bit where he tells us he was ‘robbed.’ Not Max, but the title. So Hamilton has been robbed. He doesn’t even mention the whole name Max Verstappen.
“He sent a WhatsApp to me, [saying]: ‘At no point have I ever said what Christian Horner, Jos [Verstappen], Raymond [Vermeulen] or anybody think I did and are apparently upset about.’
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“It does get hugely amplified again by those in England. The English press has been bashing Red Bull and Max for a year now. I don’t like that. It’s a bit of a game, you know. The English are bashing Max and Red Bull, and he is now being put forward as a scapegoat. He isn’t. I stick up for Ted.”
It’s not the first-time Red Bull and Sky have had issues, after the network left the Austrians disgusted that they used Verstappen’s high-speed crash at the 2021 British Grand Prix in the background of a Christmas message, before a show began.
This clip was pulled by the network, but it nevertheless was hailed as ‘pathetic’ by fans.