Verstappen astonished by question in Austria: 'You're joking?'

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Max Verstappen was in totaly bemusment during Thursday’s press conference at the Austrian Grand Prix after yet another question was asked about changes to his driving style as a result of his penalty points.

Coming into the 11th Grand Prix weekend of the 2025 season, the Dutchman currently sits on 11 penalty points, meaning one more collected point will see him serve a race ban.

However, if Verstappen steers clear of penalty points around the Red Bull Ring, two of those 11 points will have been on his license for 12 months, meaning they will leave and give the four-time champion some breathing room.

At the last race weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen snapped back at questions that were asked surrounding a potential race ban, but in Spielberg, after another question was asked on the topic, the Dutchman could not believe it.

“You’re joking, right? Is this a trap?” Verstappen said, visibly surprised, but the journalist really wanted an answer. “I’m getting this question every single time, every weekend.”

The journalist then replied by saying, “This is the last one.” Verstappen, however, refused to further engage, stating, “I have nothing to add”.

Max Verstappen’s latest penalty points came after swerving into George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix, seeing three points added to his license.

Penalty points discussed further, but not by Verstappen

Verstappen has stated that a change in his driving style will not occur, despite being on the brink of suspension.

Penalty points were discussed further in the rest of the press conference, with Verstappen, alongside Pierre Gasly and Isack Hadjar, also asked if racing in F1 is harder than it used to be.

“For me, personally, I don’t feel that way,” Gasly started by saying. “I think you go hard racing, and you know where the limit is, you know what you do, and there is mutual respect with other drivers, and that’s the limit of the environment, and you try to push it to the absolute limit.

“Now, the way we are penalised is another question, whether some of the penalties which are applied are too strong, not strong enough, etc. This is another conversation, but in the way that we go racing, wheel to wheel, I think, personally, it feels natural.”

When it was Verstappen’s turn, he managed to get a laugh from the audience with his comment: “I’m not going to comment on that. I cannot risk getting a penalty point.”

Despite this, they kept trying. A little later, the trio were asked if the FIA is too strict with penalty points. “You know you’re not going to get a long answer from Max,” Gasly laughed.

“Personally, I’m not a big fan of penalty points,” the Frenchman continued. “I think the level we have in Formula 1, we are professionals in what we do. We obviously push things to the limits, but to have a race band potentially… I was in that situation a couple of months earlier, and I don’t think I am a dangerous driver on track.

“For me, there’s something that can be reviewed with another way of implementing some sort of penalties without having the risk of a driver missing a race.”

Verstappen was given the opportunity to add more, but he declined: “I’m not going to comment on this.”

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