F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Whiting to join Vettel and Verstappen in press conference

FIA race director Charlie Whiting will join the driver press conference at the Brazilian Grand Prix alongside Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.

Vettel was angered by Verstappen's driving late in the Mexican Grand Prix, with the Red Bull driver cutting Turn 2 in defence of his position and holding on to third place at the chequered flag. While Whiting was deliberating whether to punish Verstappen - which he later did - Vettel took to team radio to say: "Here's a message for Charlie: F**k off. Honestly, f**k off!"

Following the incident, Vettel escaped sanction from the FIA after personally going to see Whiting after the race to apologise, before saying he would do so in writing to FIA president Jean Todt and Verstappen, having also fired expletives at the teenager.

The trio will now face the press together on Thursday at 11:00 local time, with Daniel Ricciardo - critical of Vettel's defensive driving for which the German was also penalised - also appearing in the press conference alongside Felipe Massa and title contenders Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

Whiting is currently scheduled to only appear for the latter part of the press conference at Interlagos, with the FIA saying his sole purpose is to discuss the events of the Mexican Grand Prix. The FIA race director has previously held talks with Verstappen about his driving, before clarifying that drivers are not allowed to move under braking ahead of the United States Grand Prix, for which Vettel was then penalised in Mexico.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.