Max Verstappen will not be present at the FIA prize-giving gala in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, this evening. The four-time world champion is reportedly suffering from illness and will not be present as Lando Norris lifts his F1 World Championship trophy for the first time.
According to De Telegraaf, Verstappen is suffering from the flu and won’t be present. Typically, the top three finishers in the Drivers’ Championship visit the gala, but unlike McLaren duo Norris and Oscar Piastri, the Red Bull racer won’t be on-site in Tashkent.
Verstappen won’t be the only recent runner-up to miss the event. In 2021, after losing the title to the Red Bull racer in controversial fashion, Lewis Hamilton skipped the FIA’s end-of-season event. The Brit was subsequently hit with a £43,800 (€50,000) fine for non-attendance.
Unlike many popular stick-and-ball sports, F1 does not award the series champion with the championship trophy at the final event. Instead, the winning driver is forced to wait until the gala to get their hands on the silverware, along with the champions of the World Rally Championship and Formula E.
Ahead of last year’s gala in Rwanda, Verstappen was forced to serve a punishment for swearing in the Singapore Grand Prix post-qualifying FIA press conference. He attended a motorsports grassroots development programme with aspiring drivers and engineers, completing his briefing of ‘accomplishing some work of public interest’.
« I find it of course ridiculous what happened, so why should I then give full answers? » Verstappen said in the aftermath of his fine last year.
« Because it’s very easily apparent you get a fine or some kind of penalty. So I prefer not to speak a lot, save my voice. We can do the interviews also somewhere else if you need some answers or questions asked. »
In other FIA-related news, Mohammed Ben Sulayem has won a second four-year term as the organisation’s president after standing unopposed in the latest election.
Laura Villars, Tim Mayer and Virginie Philippot all announced plans to run against Ben Sulayem, but were unable to appear on the ballot due to election rules. All presidential candidates must name a potential vice-candidate from each global motorsport region, but with South America’s only option, Fabiana Ecclestone, committed to the incumbent, he ran unopposed.
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