Andrea Stella, the boss of McLaren F1, denounced the behavior of Max Verstappen to the media in Singapore.
According to him, Formula 1 drivers have a “responsibility” to behave well (an opinion shared by Fernando Alonso, read here) especially in front of microphones during press conferences.
Stella clearly distinguishes between what is said “hot” on board an F1 (and which is paged by the FOM) and what a driver can say to journalists.
“I would distinguish between swearing while the drivers are driving their car – they are under the pressure of competition, under the pressure of doing laps, with those uttered in conferences, especially the one on Thursday, when the weekend hasn’t really started,” comments the Italian, emphasizing that Verstappen was rude and punished for comments made on Thursday, even before the start of hostilities in Singapore.
“But things don’t always go as planned. I think there’s an emotional content, which we should accept, that sometimes manifests itself in the form of a swear word here and there, and I think the beeps are there for that. The FOM kind of does the job from that point of view.”
“When you are obviously outside the car, I think we should all try to be responsible and not forget that we are, as much as possible, role models. Popularity, fame, does not bring only benefits – they come with responsibilities, and we have to take every opportunity we can to get good messages, healthy messages, because Formula 1 is so popular that you can influence a wide range of people.”
“If we can influence, why not influence for good? So I think even though a bad word may seem like a minor thing, I think if we don’t take that opportunity it will be a missed opportunity to miss quality of language, respect for language, respect for competitors.”
“So I think enforcing these rules is a good thing. Ideally all competitors are enforcing them themselves because of their own policies or their own standards.”
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