Why did Max Verstappen stick his middle finger up at a fan?

Verstappen has nothing to complain about the support of the Italian fans. " Honestly, it's been great," he replies when asked about his bond with the Tifosi. Still, there are still a few who don't like the Dutchman. " I had a funny story in qualifying when we were driving in the pits," the Dutchman begins.

Verstappen raised his middle finger to rude F1 fan

All the spectators in the pit lane clapped for the drivers, except for one person. The man raised his middle finger to Verstappen, who repaid him in equal measure. "I gave him the finger and then the next time I came around he was clapping, so they learn," laughed the reigning world champion.

"It's easy to be not nice to drivers but I can also be not nice to you, so luckily he was a bit higher up," jokes Verstappen. "But it's good, after that I guess he appreciated it, but the fans in general here are very nice, very passionate, they love motorsport, of course naturally there's more support for Ferrari here, but that's absolutely fine, they have a massive fan base and Italy loves motorsport, go-karting as well, where we grew up, it's really fantastic."

Piastri and Norris also saw the rude fan 

The McLaren drivers also saw how the spectator in question behaved. "I saw the same guy I think, he wasn't giving me the finger but he was giving me the thumbs down. I mean it's cool, I think in all sports a little bit of giving the opposition some stick is always good fun and part of sport of course there's always a limit to that," said Piastri, who, like Verstappen, can really appreciate the Italian fans. "I think the Ferrari fans are the epitome of passionate fans, they've been very welcoming this weekend, maybe not from a distance in the pit lane, but they've been very passionate and these are the kind of fans that we love in F1."

Norris also saw the man but did not receive a rude gesture from him. "I think he was on my side," said the Briton. "The Italian fans have always been extremely kind to me and very supportive. I've always loved coming. Monza is the Italian race that I think everyone loves the most, all of them, there's a lot of fans that have always supported me since go-karts, that's where most of the races are in Italy when you're that young, so we spend a lot of time here. They've always been very supportive, so I thank the fan that was up there." Said Norris