This week, the FIA are in the midst of deliberations over the punishment which should be awarded to Charles Leclerc following his use of ‘bad language’ during the press conference in the wake of the race last weekend held in Mexico City.

The topic of drivers being role models was raised by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem prior to the running of this season’s Singapore Grand Prix. The Bahraini has raised the issue of bad language in an interview with motorsport.com suggesting it should be removed from F1 broadcasting.

“We have to differentiate between our sport — motorsport — and rap music,” said Ben Sulayem. “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].”

 

 

 

FIA president clamps down on swearing

As expected Ben Sulayem’s ‘rapper’ example irritated Lewis Hamilton who responded by saying. “With what he’s saying, I don’t like how he’s expressed it, saying that rappers is very stereotypical.”  Lewis continues pointing out most rappers are black, “so I think those are the wrong choice of words, there’s a racial element there. But as I said, I agree with the fact that I think [it needs] cleaning up a little bit.”

Then the inevitable happened, almost at the will of the F1 gods Max Verstappen was called to attend the mandatory FIA approved press conference on Thursday in the city state. There the world champion regaled tales of how bad his car had been last time out in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where he finished just fifth.

Describing the various handling issues he’d experienced in Baku, Verstappen then said: “I don’t know, man. Different set-up. So as soon as I went into qualifying, I knew the car was f***ed.”

Having their leader speaking out against swearing just days before, the F1 race stewards had no option but to punish Verstappen for using such language in an approved FIA meeting. Yet it was the nature of the penalty which caused eyebrows to be raised as the stewards handed out a ‘day on the naughty step’ for Max ordering him to do some kind of community service.

Horner admits Ricciardo race seat still on

 

 

 

Other F1 personnel sanctioned

Toto Wolff and Fred Vasseur were reprimanded last year for their part in the team principal’s FIA press conference in Las Vegas. The duo were discussing the lose manhole which had destroyed Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari just eight minutes into free practice one.

Fred Vasseur remarked: “This [situation] will cost us a fortune – we fucked-up the session for Carlos”. The interviewer proceeded to suggest the organisation for the new race in Las Vegas had failed in its duty to prepare a safe environment for F1 racing.

“You’re speaking about a fucking drain cover that’s been undone, that has happened before – that’s nothing, it’s FP1” Wolff retorted in defence of the Las Vegas organisers.

Wolff and Vasseur were reported to the Abu Dhabi stewards for a joint hearing and both were hit with formal warnings following their outbursts a week earlier. “Based on the submission from the FIA, the FIA regards language of this type to be unacceptable, moving forward, particularly when used by participants in the sport who have a high public profile and who are seen by many, especially younger, followers of the sport, as role models, and that in future the FIA will not tolerate the use of such language in FIA forums by any stakeholder,” the stewards report read.

Perez: “I don’t think this can carry on…”

 

 

 

Verstappen’s penalty, the FIA making an example of him

Yuki Tsunoda was hit with a steep fine at the Austrian Grand Prix following one of his trademark outbursts during a practice session. “These guys are f—ing retarded” yelled Yuki over team radio as he was overtaken in the pit lane by two rival drivers.

Tsunoda argued he didn’t fully understand the true meaning of his ableist outburst which the FIA stewards accepted yet fined him anyway.

The message was not broadcast across the Formula One world feed although the uncensored live audio from each driver’s radio is available via F1 TV.

So the penalty issued to Max Verstappen was indeed out of the ordinary and the world champion took the matter to heart. He refused to answer questions properly at a subsequent FIA press conference later in the weekend, telling reports he would answer their questions when outside the FIA meeting room.

Verstappen lashes out at stewards

 

 

 

Lelcerc drops F-bomb in Mexico

Now Charles Leclerc is the latest driver to to suffer sanction from the FIA’s “bad language police.” The stewards are sitting this week to review the interview he gave following his third place finish in Mexico.

In the FIA press conference after the Grand Prix had ended saw Charles Leclerc being asked about the moment when he nearly lost his Ferrari on the exit of the final turn.

“I knew that I had to do everything perfect, Lando was so quick at that time. I felt like it was a matter of laps, but I was still trying to do everything possible for him to overheat behind me and keep him as long as possible behind me. So, I tried to have the best exit possible,” explained the Ferrari driver.

Deja Vu: Wolff openly attacks Verstappen

 

 

 

FIA tricky decision to make

“I could see that he was very close out of that corner. I lost the rear and then you forget about Lando and you just hope that you are going to take it back. I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that oversteer, I had an oversteer from the other side.”

“Then I was like, ‘f**k’….”, Leclerc quickly caught himself adding swiftly, “Oh, sorry! Oh, no, oh no! I don’t want to join Max!” When the interviews were done an FIA official was seen to approach Charles for a private word.

The stewards are having a virtual meeting this week to discuss the matter and one train of thought suggests Leclerc’s swift apology may see him, earn little more than a reprimand.

That said, having made swearing a hot topic and punishing Max with community service, should the FIA fail to similarly sanction Leclerc, Red Bull will be calling out another inconsistency in modern F1 stewarding decisions.

Red Bull quandary over drivers: “Bizarre how everything changed in 7 days”

 

 

 

Mercedes to ‘sacrifice” a Hamilton big send off

Having suffered two seasons of ignominy with Mercedes failing to get on top of the new ground effect car design regulations brought in for 2022, Lewis Hamilton decided within weeks of signing a new contract with the silver arrows that his future would be better served if he switched his allegiance to Ferrari.

Hamilton’s decision appeared to be justified in the early part of this year as the W15 appeared to be the genuine DNA tested son of its tricky and unloved predecessors. Across the first eight rounds of 2024, Hamilton enjoyed two best finishes of P6 and scored just 42 points in comparison to Max Verstappen’s total of 169.

Then came the beginning of the Mercedes revival. A new front wing in Monaco appeared to give the W15 an element of stability which it had been lacking before. But it was next time out in Canada when Mercedes season came alive with both cars looking to have genuine race winning speed… READ M ORE