Yeah, didn’t have this one on our bingo cards. Here’s how it started.
The FIA, F1’s governing body, wants drivers to reduce swearing over the radio or in news conferences.
FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem told Autosport:
💬 “We’re not rappers, you know. They say the F-word how many times per minute? We are not on that. That’s them, and we are (us).”
Those comments drew Lewis Hamilton‘s ire. The Mercedes driver called the comparison to rappers “very stereotypical.”
Max Verstappen had a spicier response to the FIA request
💬 You have to probably limit this or have a bit of a delay that you can censor out a few things. That will help a lot more than putting bans on drivers because, for example, I couldn’t even say the f-word. I mean, it’s not even that bad, right? I mean, the car was not working, the car is f—ed, yeah. Excuse me for the language, but come on, what are we? Five-year-olds, six-year-olds?”
On Friday, the F1 stewards punished Verstappen for cursing during that answer. For more on the whole saga, read below …
GO FURTHER
F1 drivers weigh in on FIA push to limit radio swearing: ‘What are we? Five-year-olds?’