Verstappen 'robbed' Hamilton of championship: Red Bull, Sky Sports row continues over reporter's statements

On Sunday, 2022 F1 Drivers' World Champion Max Verstappen stamped his dominance over the field once more as he secured a record 14th race victory this season at the Mexican Grand Prix. Despite very comfortably winning this year's title, the Dutchman continues to be dragged in a row over comments about the legitimacy of his maiden championship in 2021.

Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have imposed a boycott against F1 broadcaster Sky Sports over comments made by reporter Ted Kravitz over the past season, and particularly during last week's US Grand Prix in Austin. Verstappen also won that race after overtaking 2021 rival Lewis Hamilton with five laps remaining.

Kravitz then brought up last season's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, implying that Verstappen had robbed Hamilton of the championship. As a result, Sky Sports UK and affiliates from other territories have been banned access to the double world champion.

In Austin, Kravitz said: "[Hamilton] doesn't win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track where he could win the first race all year, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him," clearly speaking of a hypothetical scenario he wishes were true. "What a script and a story that would have been. But that's not the way the script turned out today, was it?" he lamented, as quoted by The Sun.

"Because the guy that beat him after being robbed actually overtook him, because he's got a quicker car, because of engineering and Formula 1 and design, and pretty much because of [Adrian Newey, Red Bull's Chief Technical Officer] over there," Kravitz continued, clearly voicing his opinion that Verstappen did not deserve to win and only managed to do it thanks to a superior car.

He even accused Verstappen of not being a "driver capable of winning a championship in a normal way," despite the fact that the 25-year-old won this year's title with a commanding lead, and with four races left.

Verstappen spoke up about Kravitz and his constant attacks over the span of the entire season: "It was not to do with this weekend but this year a constant kind of...being disrespectful, especially one particular person. Enough is enough and I don't accept it," he said before saying that Kravitz is contributing to the toxicity and disrespect that he is facing on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Kravitz has sparked another debate over the 2021 championship especially after Red Bull was found guilty of breaching the cost cap imposed by the FIA.