Max Verstappen receives bizarre penalty after swearing at F1 press conference

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Max Verstappen has been told to “accomplish some work of public interest” in an odd ruling by the stewards after swearing during Thursday’s FIA press conference in Singapore.

The Red Bull driver, who leads this year’s world championship by 59 points to Lando Norris, has not won in seven races and struggled last week in Azerbaijan.

When asked about his car in Baku, Verstappen replied that he knew “the car was f*****” and was warned about his language by the moderator on Thursday.

After Verstappen was called to see the stewards on Friday, with a meeting lasting around 15 minutes, the decision reached by the stewards was an “obligation to accomplish some work of public interest.”

The stewards’ verdict read: “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 offence” and is not suitable for broadcast.

“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.

“While the stewards accept that this may be true, it is important for role models to learn to be mindful when speaking in public forums, in particular when not under any particular pressure.

“Verstappen apologised for his behaviour.”

On Thursday, Verstappen also responded to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem insisting that drivers need to be mindful of their language during races, which is then broadcast around the world on TV coverage.

The 26-year-old said: “A lot of people say a lot of bad things when they are full of adrenaline in other sports, it just doesn’t get picked up.

“I couldn’t even say the f-word... it’s not even that bad. What are we 5 year olds, 6 year olds?”

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, called out Ben Sulayem for a comment referring to rappers when discussing the broadcast of swearing in Formula One races – saying they had a “racial element” to them.

Ben Sulayem, head of F1’s governing body, says he has asked Formula 1 to limit the amount of swearing – usually from drivers over team radio – on TV coverage of races. Swear words are currently bleeped out before being broadcast.

The 62-year-old Emirati executive said: “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? We are not on that. That’s them and we are [us].”

Hamilton, though admitting the sport could “clean up” foul language in broadcasts, was unimpressed with the connotations from Ben Sulayem’s remarks.

“I don’t like how he’s expressed it,” Hamilton, the sport’s only black driver, said ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.

“Saying ‘rappers’ is very stereotypical and if you think about it, most rappers are black. So really pointed it towards we’re not like them. So I think that was the wrong choice of words. There’s a racial element there.”