While he won his fourth Formula One drivers’ championship during the Las Vegas Grand Prix last month, Max Verstappen’s sixth place finish in the Abu Dhabi meant that the Red Bull driver finished with 437 points in the 2024 Formula One season. It has now emerged that the 27-old driver has been fined with a ‘work of public interest’ linked to stewards’ penalty for the use of bad language including a swear word during the drivers’ press conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix early this year. Verstappen will serve the penalty of the ‘public interest work’ in Rwanda after the final FIA awards ceremony later this week.
Back in September, the four-time world champion was summoned to the stewards after swearing while describing his car to the press – they went on to conclude that this went against the International Sporting Code. Previously, drivers have been fined for using bad language, but they elected to impose a “greater penalty” for Verstappen, who is “obliged to accomplish some work of public interest” to account for his misconduct,” said the FIA statement on Monday. The statement further added, “while there, Verstappen will work alongside junior motorsport competitors. His service will form part of the grassroots development programme organised by the Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC), an organisation that has built an Affordable Cross Car using blueprints provided by the FIA.”
Prior to the Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen told the media his car “was f*****” in a press conference. A day after the incident, FIA summoned the red Bull driver citing a violation of the International Sporting Code and imposed a community service penalty. While Verstappen had argued that English was not his first language, the ruling body maintained their decision. “The Stewards reviewed the transcript of the FIA Thursday Driver Press Conference in Singapore and Max Verstappen, driver of car 1, used language to describe his car at the Event in Azerbaijan which is generally considered ‘coarse, rude’ or may ‘cause offense’ and is not considered suitable for broadcast. This is ‘Misconduct’ as defined in Art 20 of the International Sporting Code, and is a breach of Art 12.2.1.k. The Stewards noted that the language was not directed at anyone or any group. When summoned to the Stewards the driver explained that the word used is ordinary in speech as he learned it, English not being his native language,” FIA’s statement read post the incident.
Earlier, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was imposed with a fine after swearing during a press conference post the Mexican Grand Prix. Leclerc was fined 10,000 Euros, half of which will be suspended for a year, and was given no community service. According to Forbes, the move to imply penalty and other penalties on drivers has to do with the broadcast standards for FIA. “With Formula 1’s recent reportedly 90 million dollars broadcast deal with ESPN, the sport is increasingly aligning with the United States’ strict media standards, where explicit language is heavily monitored—a move indicating that the sport is trying to align with American market demands and more conservative media norms. The GPDA’s collective pushback has created a storm that FIA President Ben Sulayem must now address,” Forbes report read.
Verstappen had further explained in the press conference about the use of the word. “Imean it’s not even that bad right? I mean the car was not working, the car is f-ed, yeah. And then, excuse me for the language but come on, what are we? Five-year-olds six-year-olds? Even if a five-year-old or six-year-old is watching I mean they will eventually swear anyway even if their parents won’t or they will not allow it. When they grow up they will walk around with their friends and they will be swearing. So you know this is not changing anything,” Verstappen had told the media.
FIA president Mohammad Ben Sulayem had explained the penalty and other sanctions. “We have to differentiate between our sport—motorsport—and rap music. We’re not rappers, you know. They say the F-word how many times per minute? That’s them and we are [us].” Sulayem had told motorsports.com.
It also drew Lewis Hamilton disagreeing on the issue. “I don’t like how he’s expressed it. Saying ‘rappers’ is very stereotypical and if you think about it, most rappers are Black. So he really pointed it towards ‘We’re not like them. I think that was the wrong choice of words. There’s a racial element there.” Hamilton had said.
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