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F1 News: GQ Under Fire For Max Verstappen's Athlete Of The Year Award

Not the best timing.

Lydia Mee

F1 News: GQ Under Fire For Max Verstappen's Athlete Of The Year Award
F1 News: GQ Under Fire For Max Verstappen's Athlete Of The Year Award /

GQ revealed their front cover photo shoot and 'Athlete Of The Year' award for Max Verstappen over the weekend. Unfortunately for GQ, this was incredibly ill-timed with Verstappen's refusal to follow team orders at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday causing chaos on social media. 

Verstappen has received a huge amount of backlash after ignoring his Red Bull team orders to let teammate Sergio Perez pass him in order to help him with his battle for second place in the driver's championship. There was nothing in it for Verstappen to not let Perez pass as he was not in the running to get a podium place, he has already won the driver's championship for the 2022 season, and he has already broken the record for the number of wins in one season. 

At the same time fans were kicking off on social media, GQ announced Verstappen as their 'Athlete Of The Year'. They wrote:

"Presenting our first 2022 #GQMOTY cover star: @Max33Verstappen.

"The athlete of the year and #F1’s most thrilling driver talks with rare candor about his ruthless rise to the top"

Fans were quick to bring the F1 drama onto the moment. One Twitter user, @ArnauldJ photoshopped the photo and wrote:

"I fixed it for you guys."

Another user commented on the poor timing of the post, although another commented saying it was good marketing. 

Another user commented on the timing, whilst others called for it to be Mercedes driver and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, or Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez.

Looking ahead to the last Grand Prix race of the season, the Abu Dhabi GP kicks off on Friday and Red Bull team principal has said that the team are going into in full support of doing whatever they can to help Perez get second place in the championship.

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Lydia Mee
LYDIA MEE

Lydia is the lead editor of F1 editorial. After following the sport for several years, she was finally able to attend the British Grand Prix in person in 2017. Since then, she's been addicted to not only the racing, but the atmosphere the fans bring to each event. She's a strong advocate for women in motorsport and a more diverse industry. 

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