Flu sidelines Verstappen from FIA Prize-Giving Gala after late-season surge
Max Verstappen won’t collect his runners-up trophy in person at the FIA’s end-of-year Prize-Giving Gala, with the four-time world champion pulling out of Friday night’s event in Tashkent due to illness.
The Red Bull driver, fresh off a defiant win in Abu Dhabi that sealed second in the 2025 standings behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, had returned to Milton Keynes this week for the usual post-season debrief and team photos. He was then due to fly east for the ceremony that formally caps the FIA’s General Assemblies week. Instead, he’s been told to rest after coming down with the flu.
Regulations require the top three in the championship to attend the gala, a rule that’s been enforced before — Lewis Hamilton’s 2021 non-appearance, in the wake of Abu Dhabi, earned him a £42,000 fine. In Verstappen’s case, force majeure looks the likely route to avoiding a penalty, with the FIA typically taking a softer line where illness is involved.
It’s no secret Verstappen’s never been fond of this particular fixture. Speaking last weekend, he was blunt about the obligation: “I have to go. Otherwise, I get a penalty. But honestly, it is nonsense. We are exhausted. It has been a very tough season. You want to recharge, not sit in a hall for hours. If it were optional, I would not be there.”
His mood was markedly different earlier this week at Red Bull’s factory, where he addressed staff after that Abu Dhabi win — a victory that wrapped up P2 and underlined the team’s late-season resurgence after a bruising middle third of the campaign.
“Everyone is just as important to achieve this kind of success,” Verstappen told the assembled crew. “Especially in a season like this, where we had tough times. We stuck together, and it worked. Yes, I know it sucks by only two points, but at the same time, we can be super proud to have come out of tough times, overcoming these things, and start winning again in one season… It’s just super-impressive to see that, and for me, I’m very proud to be part of it. It’s honestly like my second family.”
The “two points” sting in that line tells you plenty about the edge of this title fight. Norris and McLaren executed when it mattered; Verstappen and Red Bull found their counterpunch late. Strip away the medals and ceremonies and the upshot is simple: there’s not a lot between them heading into the winter.
As for the gala, expect Red Bull representation in Tashkent via team management, while Verstappen — who’s logged more air miles than most this year — sticks to chicken soup and recovery at home. If the FIA does choose to log an absence, it’ll almost certainly be marked down as unavoidable, not willful.
The bigger picture? Even with no trophy lift on stage, Verstappen and Red Bull leave 2025 with momentum restored and a clear target. McLaren has the plates for now. The chase restarts in March.
