Charles Leclerc swearing in Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix post-race press conference is set to be reviewed and he may yet be formally investigated by FIA stewards.
Leclerc swore while answering a question about his wild moment late in the race, which cost him second place to Lando Norris, and what he said to himself afterwards.
At the end of his answer, Leclerc said: “I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that oversteer, I had an oversteer from the other side and then I was like, ‘f***’.”
It was the first case of a driver cursing in a press conference since Max Verstappen was controversially awarded the equivalent of community service for swearing in Singapore – a decision that sparked a protest from Verstappen in the form of minimal answers in that setting for the rest of the weekend.
Leclec was aware of that on Sunday in Mexico as were several present in the room including Norris and Carlos Sainz, who he was sharing the press conference with.
“Oh, sorry!” Leclerc said, before adding: “Oh, no, oh no! I don’t want to join Max!”
Sainz, jokingly suggesting Leclerc could get fined, asked him: “You have your wallet here?”
Leclerc’s swearing was censored in the official FIA transcript of the press conference but he was spoken to immediately after it ended by the FIA media delegate, who was also obligated to report it to the stewards.
The start of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend is the first opportunity to look into that, and an initial review is likely to take place on Friday morning.
Summoning Leclerc to a hearing is at the stewards’ discretion, though, and even if that happens there is no guarantee he will be punished as each case is viewed on its own merits.
It at least has not gone unnoticed, despite Max Verstappen claiming the FIA’s clampdown on drivers swearing “only counts for me”.
Verstappen had said on Thursday in Brazil, in an answer to one of many questions about the scrutiny of his racing style of late, that the people whose opinion he listens to and respects in the paddock “are objective and close to me and not just there to stir… I can’t say the word, because I’ll probably get another [penalty].
“I mean, apparently it only counts for me anyway, because after the race in Mexico, someone was swearing. I didn’t hear anything from it.
“So, it’s better I don’t swear again.”
According to Motorsport.com, Verstappen also told Dutch media on the same day that “I’ve got the wrong passport for this paddock” and that what Leclerc said “is worse than what I said in its context, and it was a much more important press conference with more people watching”.
The backlash to drivers being punished for swearing in press conferences had sparked conversations within the Grand Prix Drivers Association, and the expectation was that a joint statement would be made by the drivers’ body to express a joint position on the matter. That has not yet materialised though.
GPDA director George Russell said in Mexico last week “it’s got to be right first”, and when speaking about why the context of drivers’ swearing matters, Russell said it was important not to end up with “a set of regulations, 100 pages long, saying ‘you’re allowed to say this, you can’t say that’…”.
“For people where English isn’t their native language, they have different views on swearing,” Russell said.
“Even if you compare the Brits to the Aussies, they say a specific C-word which in some context is being polite to someone. Whereas if you say that in the UK, that is massively frowned upon.
“Common sense needs to be applied, and if somebody does swear inappropriately, then maybe there should be the appropriate fine or whatever against that.
“Community service seems a little bit too much for the crime that was committed [by Verstappen].”
