One journalist is facing serious consequences for his strongly worded criticism of Formula One star Charles Leclerc.

Daily Mail motor racing writer Jonathan McEvoy called Leclerc, who drives for Ferrari’s F1 team, a “sneaky little bastard” in a headline of an opinion piece earlier this month.

The criticism stemmed from an incident between Leclerc and his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, at the Mexico Grand Prix. Leclerc and Hamilton drove each other off the track while battling for the lead.

On Friday, The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which is Formula One’s governing body, announced that McEvoy has been banned for the rest of the 2026 season for his comments.

“The FIA considers that the article by Jonathan McEvoy on 4 November fell short of the standards of professionalism expected, and as such his media accreditation has been temporarily withdrawn. This decision relates solely to the reporter in question, and does not affect the publication’s ability to nominate an alternative representative,” the FIA told Front Office Sports.

The Daily Mail is firing back about this decision.

The site’s head of sport, Chris Dean, told Front Office Sports, “This is an unprecedented and outrageous attack on the freedom of the Press. We are in dangerous territory when the FIA react in such a heavy-handed way to some mild and fair criticism of one driver.”

F1 has only three races remaining in the 2026 season. But the Daily Mail seems more frustrated about the supposed freedom of the press breach than McEvoy actually having to miss events.