Red Bull’s Max Verstappen hopes that “common sense” prevails with the FIA’s clampdown on swearing in Formula 1.
The Dutchman was the first victim of the FIA’s clampdown on offensive language in press conferences last year when he uttered an expletive ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.
The resulting punishment of community service prompted Verstappen to enter a vow of silence for the remaining press conferences in Singapore in response to the censorship.
With the FIA publishing a stricter range of fines, including €40,000 for the first swearing offence and a potential race ban for three or more offences, although a precedent was set when Dan Ticktum’s expletive-ridden tirade over team radio at the Jeddah E-Prix went unpunished.
Verstappen was asked to give his take during a press conference ahead of the F1 75 launch event at London’s O2 arena.
Initially, he was tight-lipped on the matter, saying: “I prefer not to speak about that, might get in trouble.”
But in a roundtable discussion shortly afterwards, the Red Bull driver opened up and gave a broader response.
“Honestly, from my side, I think it’s not necessary to be like that with the rules,” Verstappen told select media including Motorsport Week.
“I think you need to use a bit of common sense.
“Besides that, I prefer that we actually focus on other topics to try and improve safety, try and improve the overall performance of F1 cars, instead of actually having to focus on all these kinds of things. It’s a bit unnecessary, I think.”
Asked about the prospect of losing a championship if a race ban comes as a result of swearing, Verstappen added: “That’s why I think it’s just a bit much.”
Verstappen hasn’t spoken to the FIA president over swearing punishments
The swearing clampdown has come at the behest of FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Verstappen revealed that he hadn’t held any discussions with the FIA president following his punishment and the increased scope of fines related to swearing moving forward.
Still, if approached to comment by Ben Sulayem, Verstappen is happy to share his opinion.
“It’s a complicated matter,” Verstappen said.
“I always share my opinion.
“Like I say now, I think it’s just a bit much.
“It was not necessary to put it like that, fully written down.”
Driver fines for swearing have already found their first victim on the FIA World Championship stage but not in single-seaters.
Hyundai WRC driver Adrien Fourmaux was the man caught out during an end-of-stage TV interview during Rally Sweden.
Fourmaux was fined €10,000 with a further 20,000 suspended.
READ MORE – Guenther Steiner: FIA made ‘big story’ out of Max Verstappen swearing incident
