The FIA has pulled Daily Mail F1 reporter Jonathan McEvoy’s paddock pass for the rest of 2026 over a column on Charles Leclerc, and McEvoy says it seems Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur reported him.
McEvoy held a permanent pass for F1 races. In a letter to the newspaper, FIA general manager Alberto Villarreal said his article “falls short of the standards of professionalism expected of media representatives accredited to cover the FIA Formula One World Championship,” the Daily Mail reported.
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Following the comments from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton after the Mexico weekend, especially against teammate Charles Leclerc, McEvoy wrote a column on how he saw things at Ferrari and shared his opinion about the Monégasque.
The Line That Cost McEvoy His Pass
In his piece, he wrote: “The sophisticated Charles also happens to be a sneaky little b*****d.” McEvoy believes the line irked Ferrari and team principal Frederic Vasseur, and that Vasseur complained about him.
The FIA’s letter, as quoted by the Daily Mail, doesn’t mention Ferrari. It says the FIA used its discretion under the 2026 accreditation guidelines to withdraw his pass for the rest of the season, so he won’t be in the paddock for the races in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
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British Journalist Lashes Out at Vasseur
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Image Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
In a column about the ban, he called out Vasseur. “Now, let’s get serious, that tubby little nobody called Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, had grassed on me, it seems,” he wrote in the Daily Mail.
“A chuckling buffoon well out of his depth at the world’s most prestigious team, he is a prickly character and I don’t like him and he doesn’t like me. He is the only thoroughly rude individual I have met across the nearly 400 grands prix I have attended. I have, as you may have detected, pointed out some of his shortcomings.”
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McEvoy’s Run-in With Toto Wolff
This is not the first time McEvoy has clashed with a team boss. He wonders whether Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, a good friend of Vasseur, played a part too, though he calls that “pure surmise.”
McEvoy says Wolff asked FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem to ban him for life after a question at the inaugural Las Vegas GP in 2023, when a loose drain cover delayed practice. Wolff was later fined by the FIA for swearing in that press conference.
Wolff was furious when McEvoy asked about it. “That is not a black eye, this is nothing,” Wolff said at the time. “We are on Thursday night, we have a free practice session that we’re not doing. They’re going to see the drain covers and nobody’s going to talk about that tomorrow morning anymore.”
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He added: “But talking here about a black eye for the sport on a Thursday evening? Nobody watches that in European time anyway. Come on.”
McEvoy says Ben Sulayem stood by him at the time.
Toto Wolff at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Image Credit: Mercedes-AMG F1
Verstappen Called Out a British Journalist Too
McEvoy is not the only British journalist to face some reactions, as The Guardian’s Giles Richards was ejected from this year’s open media session at Suzuka by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. It stemmed from his question back at the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP about the Dutchman’s antics in Barcelona against George Russell that cost him the F1 title.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
