The major talking point over the last week-plus in Formula 1 has been Max Verstappen's late-race move on George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix, where a frustrated Verstappen appeared to intentionally slam into the side of Russell's Mercedes in a late battle for fourth place after being passed on a restart by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
The Red Bull driver came across the line in fifth place but was dropped to 10th as a result of the ensuing penalty he was issued for the contact with Russell.
Frustration was high for Verstappen throughout the entire event, from being put on the wrong tire strategy, to bobbling on the restarted and being subsequently passed on the restart by Leclerc (following minor, if anything at all, contact), to being told to give a place back to Russell, before the FIA later stated he was not actually in violation of any rules.
Still, as great as Verstappen is, he has shown on more than one occasion, whether it be in Hungary or Mexico last year or Barcelona two weekends ago, that he is his own worst enemy.
As much as he is known for getting in the heads of the other 19 drivers on the grid, some more than others, perhaps his worst tendency is getting in his own head and overreacting.
The move on Russell was about as clear-cut as dirty gets, and Verstappen was handed an additional three points on his Super License as a result, putting him just one point away from a potential one-race ban.
As you might expect, there are those who have called for harsher punishment.
And on the very same note about Verstappen getting into his own head, these very critics are ironically the ones to blame for Verstappen's punishment not being much harsher.
These are folks who cry wolf at anything Verstappen does. He cannot do anything on the race track without someone, particularly the British media, crying foul play. If he is involved in an incident, it's always his fault, no matter what actually happened.
We've seen 50/50 incidents totally blamed on him. We've seen journalists skirt around the rulebook when trying to argue he should have been penalized for merely having superior racecraft to his rivals. We've heard reporters ask him why he couldn't just let his rivals pass him. And we've heard announcers bring up his past sins to try to rain on, no pun intended, some of his best-ever performances.
Maybe because it is 2025, some would simply suggest that that's the state of the modern mainstream media.
But this is not normal nor honest behavior when it comes to so-called objectivity. Quite frankly, it's pathetic.
So now when something actually significant happens, something where Verstappen is clearly the one to blame and clearly should be punished beyond the usual punishment, he is hit with what is pretty much a standard penalty of a 10-second loss and the addition of a couple penalty points which may not matter anyway, given the upcoming expiration of a couple others.
What do you expect after crying wolf for all these years?
For any objective viewer, what we saw in Spain was worse than anything we've seen from Verstappen in years, even including Hungary and Mexico last year.
But for those who try to set the narrative on any other Grand Prix weekend, there was literally no difference. I mean, Verstappen bad, other driver good, right?
That's how this works now. That's how this has worked for years.
If you want to get upset about Verstappen not being penalized harshly enough, maybe you should stop throwing a fake tantrum every time he does something that is completely fine, just for the sake of trying to back up the ongoing media-driven narrative.
Because any ensuing real outrage won't be taken with anything more than a grain of salt.
The Canadian Grand Prix is set to be shown live on ABC from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve beginning at 1:55 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 15. Verstappen is the three-time reigning race winner. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!