Why F1 runner-up Max Verstappen will be missing at FIA Awards gala

Max Verstappen is set to miss today’s FIA prize giving ceremony due to illness.

Four-time world champion Verstappen has been stuck down by seasonal flu and has decided against travelling to Uzbekistan, according to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, which has close ties to his family.

The annual FIA Awards gala gets underway at 6pm UK time in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent.

Verstappen was due to make an appearance alongside new F1 world champion Lando Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished third.

The Dutchman finished runner-up in the 2025 world championship following a remarkable fightback that saw him miss out to Norris by just two points after winning the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Verstappen brilliantly overcame what was at a 104-point deficit with nine races to go to haul himself back into unlikely title contention.

Following the season finale, Verstappen travelled to the UK to visit Red Bull’s F1 factory in Milton Keynes this week.

It is a requirement for the top three finishes in the world championship to attend the FIA’s end-of-year prize-giving ceremony, which is the traditional conclusion to the motorsport season.

Norris will finally get to lift the F1 drivers’ world championship trophy on Friday evening, having clinched his maiden world title in Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen was also nominated for in the FIA Action of the Year category for his overtake on Piastri at the start of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Last year, Verstappen had to conduct community service at the FIA gala in the Rwandan capital of Kigali as punishment for swearing in a press conference at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen would not be the first F1 driver to miss the event.

Lewis Hamilton famously boycotted the 2021 FIA gala after controversially being beaten to the world title by Verstappen.

The seven-time world champion was fined €50,000 for his no-show.