Max Verstappen said a bad word – it starts with F – at the official press conference to describe how the race car performs. Those calling for Verstappen to be punished also drew sharp criticism for his own choice of words.
Sanction Verstappen for his egregious behavior? The three-time Formula 1 champion was ordered by the sport’s governing body to complete a community service day after the FIA apparently banned cursing.
The offense has been widely speculated – Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff were both called to speak to the stewards last November about the language at a press conference in Las Vegas – and FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem publicly scolded them earlier this month.
Motorsport.com reports that the FIA has asked Formula One Management to further restrict foul language broadcasts during races. When the curse words – spoken on the team’s publicly accessible radio – appeared on television, Ben Sulayem discovered the frequency of the language was bad.
“We have to distinguish between sports – motorsport – and rap music,” said Ben Sulayem. “We’re not rappers, you know.”
Lewis Hamilton, who already felt he had been targeted by Ben Sulayem when the president banned the wearing of jewelry during the competition during the election, felt the comments had a racial element.
“I don’t like how he expressed it. Saying ‘rappers’ is too stereotypical,” said Hamilton, the only Black driver in F1. “If you think about it, most rappers are black. So, it says, ‘We’re not like them.’ So I think it’s a bad choice of words and there’s a racial element there.
So Verstappen shouldn’t have been surprised when the FIA literally slapped him on the wrist for cursing. The Dutch driver responded with his own form of protest by trolling every press conference remaining at the Singapore Grand Prix.
It felt a bit “I’m just here so I don’t get fined” Marshawn Lynch-like in Verstappen showed up for the required media obligations, but there was only a short answer. He explained that he did so because he did not feel he could speak freely in an official F1 setting.
He invited journalists to follow him to the paddock for unmonitored and unfiltered exchanges on Saturday and Sunday, while he added this excessive policing to the list of reasons why the 26-year-old had a short F1 career.
Verstappen is the youngest driver ever to start an F1 race, the youngest ever F1 race champion, and it has been made clear that he has no plans to remain the oldest champion in the history of the sport. This latest drama could shorten the timeline for retirement.
“Of course, things like that will determine my future,” Verstappen said. “If you can’t be yourself, or if you have to deal with these ridiculous things, I think I’m at a stage in my career right now. If you’re not willing to face these issues constantly.
He was also critical of Carlos Sainz Jr. who was penalized for crossing the track by running under a red flag after Sainz crashed in qualifying.
“I mean, what are we talking about? He knew what he was doing. We are not stupid. Things like that, like when I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh my God,'” Verstappen said.
F1 considers its drivers the most elite in the world, so it’s no mistake that Ben Sulayem wants to hold them to a high standard. But these standards may be based on their own beliefs and do not correspond to the reality of professional sports.
Globally, viewers have become accustomed to hearing curse words thrown into live microphones during sporting events. Sometimes these words are spoken casually because what is considered a slur in your country may be common slang in another country.
But too many curses out of anger or frustration at the high stakes, minimal margin for error, and intense effort for each athlete.
And, the curse is rarely done openly for the whole world to hear. In the race, specifically, it is a privilege that spectators can eavesdrop on the team’s communication via radio. The FIA can remove this ability if it is concerned about offending listeners.
In the case of Verstappen – or even Wolff and Vasseur – the condemnation came at a news conference not designed for consumption by the general public. F1 can at any time stop cutting the clip and send it online and really make it a media-only session.
But F1 is now owned by media companies and Liberty Media know exactly what they are doing to deliver content in any way they can.
Verstappen is right. This all seems rather stupid, to a childish point, especially from an organization that has refused all year to comment on the complaint against Red Bull boss Christian Horner submitted by a suspended employee to the FIA ethics committee.
The same ethics committee, remember, that investigated and cleared within a month a pair of whistleblower complaints filed against Ben Sulayem. Susie Wolff, the wife of the Mercedes boss and head of the all-female F1 Academy F1, has also filed a criminal complaint in France against the FIA over a brief conflict of interest investigation in December on the alleged sharing of confidential information between husband and wife.
Ben Sulayem has made strides in cleaning up online abuse, has fought to get Michael Andretti and Cadillac into the box and tackled other legitimate problems facing motorsports and F1. But some of the fights he honed in on seemed petty and Hamilton had every right to question whether it was personal.
In the case of Verstappen said badly, it seems that the champion was punished to make an example. Verstappen made sure backfired to look as stupid as.
Published – September 25, 2024 04:34 IST
