Red Bull's Max Verstappen was involved in an incident with a reporter at the Japanese Grand Prix

Suzuka (Japan) (AFP) - Max Verstappen sparked a verbal confrontation ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on Thursday when he refused to start his press conference until a British journalist left the room.

The Red Bull star sat down to speak to reporters at the team’s hospitality suite in Suzuka, but then said, “I’m not speaking before he’s leaving”, and gestured at Giles Richards, a journalist from the Guardian newspaper.

Richards asked Verstappen if his demand was because of a question he had asked the driver last season, to which the four-time world champion replied “yes” and told him to “get out”.

He left and Verstappen continued with the press conference.

Richards later told AFP that the incident stemmed from a question he had asked Verstappen after the Dutchman missed out on a fifth world title to Lando Norris, by two points, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.

The question centred on the impact of a penalty that Verstappen had picked up for ramming Mercedes driver George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix in June.

Richards subsequently wrote in the Guardian that he was “deeply disappointed” to have been ejected from the news conference.

“In more than a decade of covering the sport I have interviewed Verstappen perhaps a dozen times, all of them friendly and good humoured,” he said.

“His outstanding talent garnered praise and admiration in those articles, criticism by contrast has been minimal and only when warranted.”

Richards insisted that reporting as honestly and fairly as possible was his “single overarching aim”.

“I still admire Verstappen and I hope we can enjoy a better relationship going forward,” he said.

“Sometimes, difficult, awkward questions have to be asked. That’s the job that comes with the privilege.”