Red Bull's Dutch driver Max Verstappen suggested F1's governing body was going too far in asking drivers to stop swearing. - Photo: EPA-EFE
SINGAPORE: Leading Formula One drivers at this week’s Singapore Grand Prix said on Thursday (Sept 19) they would not tone down their language on team radio, after governing body the International Automobile Federation (FIA) warned them to cut out the swearing.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem told Autosport.com in an interview that he had asked Formula One Management to minimise the amount of foul language being broadcast on television.
He said motor sport was not “rap music” and drivers should mind their language, especially as children might be watching.
But three-time world champion Max Verstappen, who is no stranger to a colourful outburst, told reporters that if the FIA did not like what drivers say in the heat of a race, then the solution is to simply not broadcast it.
“What are we? Five-year-olds? Six-year-olds?” the Red Bull driver said. “Even if a five-year-old or six-year-old is watching, they will eventually swear anyway when they grow up. Everyone swears, some people a bit more than others.”
The Dutchman has reportedly been summoned by FIA stewards for cussing at a press conference here on Sept 19.
Swearing on team radio is already bleeped out before being broadcast on a delayed feed, but Ben Sulayem wants to cut down on the amount of censoring needed.
“We have to differentiate between our sport – motor sport – and rap music,” he said. “We’re not rappers, you know. They say the F-word how many times per minute? We are not on that.”
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes said he had no problem with trying to clean up the language in F1.
“I’m sure if you say there are penalties for it, people will stop (swearing),” the Briton said. “I don’t know whether that is needed, but I definitely think there is a little bit too much.”
But the 39-year-old did not like Ben Sulayem’s comparison with rap music.
“I don’t like how he’s expressed it, saying ‘rappers’ is very stereotypical. And most rappers are black,” added Hamilton. “That was the wrong choice of words. There’s a racial element there.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris agreed with Verstappen, adding that F1 “can just not play the radios”.
“We’re the guys in the heat of the moment... So it’s a lot easier for them to say than for us to do,” he said. “You’re listening to the rawness of drivers and their thoughts and their feelings... I find it cool and I find it exciting.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc said foul language happens in lots of other sports, but F1 was unique in that drivers had microphones attached to them.
“I think there are other priorities for the FIA at the moment,” he said. “I would... ask them to take off some of our bad words and not broadcast as much. And it’s quite easy to do.
“For us to control our words when you are driving a car at 300kmh per hour in between walls is tricky. And we are humans after all.” - AFP
