Max Verstappen was vigorously defended in what was described as “an absolutely absurd battle” with the FIA over swearing.
Verstappen was involved in a dispute with the governing body, who punished him for swearing during an FIA press conference.
The three-time F1 world champion was ordered to carry out a form of community service for using the word “Fuck” before the Singapore Grand Prix to describe his car’s performance in the previous race in Baku.
Since the incident, Charles Leclerc has been fined for also swearing at an FIA press conference in Mexico.
This week, a statement was released by the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), addressed to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The GDPA blasted the Saudi and noted that there is a key difference between swearing with the intent to insult someone and describing an object or situation.
“It’s a storm in a teacup, it’s an absolutely absurd battle from the FIA,” said former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan.
“Personally, I think it started with a little attack on Max.”
“But Max is too smart for a lot of people, as we’ve seen, not just on the track, but off it too. All F1 drivers agree. If the car doesn’t work and you want to use the F-word, then that’s what you use.”
“It’s the most used word in English right now, whether we like it or not, but naturally we don’t want to use it in a confrontational point of view, and we don’t want to use it in a aggressive view.”
“But when you’re describing something, and something happened, and you say the car blew up, or whatever, and if you want to use the F-word to describe it, I think It describes it brilliantly, because everyone knows what it means and no one takes it as an insult.”
