Formula One F1 - Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore - September 21, 2024 Red Bull's Max Verstappen during practice REUTERS/Edgar Su
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Max Verstappen snubbed Formula One's governing body at a Singapore Grand Prix press conference on Saturday as Lewis Hamilton suggested the reigning champion should not serve a penalty for swearing.
Red Bull's championship leader has been ordered by FIA stewards to do the sport's equivalent of community service after he swore in an official press conference on Thursday.
Verstappen spoke to the crowd and broadcasters after qualifying second for Sunday's race but developed a sudden reticence in the FIA press conference with the top three drivers.
Asked what he had changed overnight with the car, Verstappen replied simply "a lot".
Asked to elaborate, he added: "No, I might get fined or get an extra day."
A follow-up on whether he was confident with the race pace elicited a "maybe" reply, while he responded to a question about the race being a step into the unknown by saying "it's an unknown. Yeah".
"I will find out tomorrow," he said when asked about his race tactics.
The triple world champion then told a reporter he would prefer for the questions to be asked outside the room, giving a thumbs-up sign when asked as a follow-up if he would talk somewhere else.
A further question about the possibility of his behaviour triggering another penalty, and possibly more community service, met a terse "no comment".
"I'm answering. Just not a lot," Verstappen said in reply to a subsequent enquiry about how long he planned not to give answers in the FIA press conferences. "Problem with my voice."
Verstappen later explained his behaviour to reporters in the paddock.
"I find it ridiculous what happened, so why should I then give full answers? Because it's very easily, apparently, that you get a fine or you get some sort of penalty," he said.
"So I prefer then not to speak a lot, save my voice and we can do the interviews also somewhere else."
McLaren's Lando Norris, who qualified on pole position and was sitting alongside Verstappen, joked initially that the champion deserved the punishment but then backed his friend.
"I think it's pretty unfair. I don't agree with any of it," he said.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton agreed, saying: "I think it's a bit of a joke, to be honest. This is the pinnacle of the sport. Mistakes are made. I certainly wouldn’t be doing it (community service), and I hope Max doesn't do it," he added.
Speaking to Sky Sports television, Verstappen said his transgression was "a slip of the tongue moment" and he did not blame the stewards.
"I actually had a great chat with them about it. They are very understanding but it’s in the rules and they have to apply something. But for me, it’s not the right way to go forward in our sport," he said.
The FIA has clamped down on bad language since Emirati Mohammed Ben Sulayem took charge at the end of 2021.
Ben Sulayem this week compared drivers to rappers in comments that particularly riled Hamilton, the sport's only Black driver, who criticised what he saw as a racial element.
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Clare Fallon)
