Formula 1 must not clip Verstappen's wings

Max Verstappen copped some flak for his post-race antics in Brazil, but Formula 1 must realise that it should not try to change a driver who has become one of its box office stars.

Jonathan Noble Nov 15, 2018, 11:31 AM

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Max Verstappen is Formula 1 box office. The driving brilliance. The aggression. The total self-belief. The bubbling anger when things don't go his way and the rough edges to this brilliant diamond are the very things that should make the championship's commercial chiefs sleep comfortably at night.

Whether you love or hate him for his exploits on- or off-track (and in FIA garages), that everyone holds an opinion is what makes him so utterly compelling. As with many a great legend of the past, he is never far away from being at the centre of a major story.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.