In a dramatic turn of events, Sportsmail have reported that Sky Sports’ F1 director Billy McGinty is set to visit Red Bull’s headquarters today, in a bid to sweep their issues under the carpet following the Mexican Grand Prix.
Red Bull did, of course, boycott all Sky interviews across the Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, after comments made specifically by Sky UK became too much for the Austrians to handle.
The decision was made by Max Verstappen, supposedly, which was fully backed by the leading side.
The Dutchman explained in Mexico why the decision was made, and that it was due to comments made “this year”.
READ: ‘A big joke’: Red Bull won’t be affected by FIA’s penalty until 2024
“It had nothing to do with this weekend, but this year,” Verstappen said in Mexico.
“It has been a constant kind of digging and being disrespectful, especially from one particular person. At some point, it is enough and I don’t accept it.”
That “one particular person” is veteran Sky reporter Ted Kravitz, who has said some questionable things fairly recently during his post-session show ‘Ted’s Notebook’.
The experienced journalist recently referred to Lewis Hamilton as an eight-time World Champion and even said that former race director Michael Masi ‘robbed’ him.
As well as this, Kravitz has also said during his show that Verstappen hasn’t won a title under normal circumstances, with his 2022 title having also come controversially.
It was unknown that the Dutchman had sealed his second title in Japan until it was confirmed in parc ferme, after it was revealed that full points were awarded despite only half of the race having been completed.
Whilst Red Bull boycotted Sky in Mexico, they did confirm that service will return to normal at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
READ: George Russell makes claim about Lewis Hamilton’s last few races
As they were unable to speak to Red Bull themselves, Sky were forced to use interviews carried out by the official world F1 feed.
Red Bull and Sky do have somewhat of a bumpy relationship, after Sky decided to use a clip of Verstappen crashing at the 2021 British Grand Prix as a ‘Merry Christmas’ message last year, the clip was quickly taken down.
With that incident also being very much remembered amongst the team, Kravitz’s comments were just “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, resulting in the boycott.