“Devious little bastard” – scandal escalates after comment about Leclerc

After strong criticism of Ferrari's Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc, the world automobile association FIA has withdrawn the accreditation of the British journalist Jonathan McEvoy, according to his employer "Daily Mail", thereby causing a dispute. “The Daily Mail will boycott Formula 1 after motorsport correspondent Jonathan McEvoy was slapped with a draconian reporting ban by the sport’s world governing body for the rest of the season,” the media wrote.

There will be no reports on Formula 1 races or press conferences for the last three stops of the season, it said. The British daily responded to the FIA's decision to withdraw McEvoy's accreditation. “This is an unprecedented and outrageous attack on press freedom,” Chris Dean, sports director of the Daily Mail, was quoted as saying.

McEvoy had described Leclerc as a “sneaky little bastard” a good two weeks ago because of a controversial collision on the first lap of the Mexican Grand Prix with his Ferrari colleague Lewis Hamilton.

Reporter McEvoy covered almost 400 Formula 1 races

McEvoy, who said he covered almost 400 races in 21 years for the Daily Mail, also revealed details of a tense post-race debriefing between the drivers and Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur.