'You can't be yourself': Is Max Verstappen being pushed out of F1?

Could one curse word really expedite the retirement of one of the greatest talents in Formula 1 history? It seems laughable, but Max Verstappen wasn’t joking on Sunday night when he continued to rail against his FIA sanction for saying the word “f—ed” during a news conference on Thursday.

Sat in his race overalls at a table in Red Bull’s hospitality unit, Verstappen was free to say what he really felt on the matter, just moments after delivering his second semi-silent protest in the FIA’s official postrace news conference.

“These kind of things definitely decide my future as well, when you can’t be yourself or you have to deal with these kind of silly things,” he said when asked whether the whole saga made him tempted to walk away from F1. “I think now I’m at the stage of my career that you don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring.

“Of course, it’s great to have success and win races, but you know, once you have accomplished all that winning championships and races … you want to just have a good time as well. But if you have to deal with all these kind of silly things, for me, that is not a way of continuing in the sport, that’s for sure.”

Why was Verstappen sanctioned?

During Thursday’s news conference, Verstappen dropped an F-bomb in relation to the performance of his car at the previous round in Azerbaijan. By Friday, he had been summoned to the stewards and ordered to complete F1’s version of community service as penance for his language.

A statement issued by the FIA-appointed four-person stewarding panel in Singapore said the three-time world champion had breached article 12.2.1.k of the International Sporting Code — a rather broad clause in the 80-page rulebook that forbids “any misconduct” by participants in an FIA-sanctioned championship.

Verstappen is not the first driver or member of the paddock to be sanctioned for uttering an expletive and is unlikely to be the last. Whereas previous incidents have resulted in a formal warning or financial penalty, though, Verstappen is the first driver to be punished with an order to “accomplish some work of public interest.” Exactly what form that will take is not yet clear.

It is clear, however, that Verstappen feels singled out over what he calls a “very, very silly” issue. In an attempt to protest the decision without risking further sanction, he limited his answers in official FIA news conferences on Saturday and Sunday to shortened or one-word answers before speaking to the media in separate huddles in the paddock.

“For me personally, there is absolutely no desire to then give long answers when you get treated like that,” Verstappen said on Sunday night. “I never really felt like I had a bad relationship with [the FIA].

“Even this year, I did voluntary work with junior stewards. I gave them a half-an-hour interview, like all set up, so I tried to help out. I’m not a difficult person, I like to help out, and then you get treated like that.

“Well, that’s just not how it works. So for me, it was quite straightforward because I know that I have to answer [under the rules], but it doesn’t say how long you have to answer.”

Why the crackdown on profanities?

Verstappen’s sanction followed the publication of an interview with Mohammed Ben Sulayem in which the FIA president said drivers should mind their language. The quote, which was problematic itself as Ben Sulayem made an unnecessary “us versus them” comparison with “rappers,” was published by Autosport ahead of the Singapore weekend.

Those words initially seemed to be targeted at drivers swearing over team radio, with the FIA president saying he would work with F1 to limit the broadcast of profanities on the sport’s world television feed.

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

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who very rarely swears over team radio, said he recognised the need to be a “role model” to younger generations, but questioned the way in which Ben Sulayem raised the issue.

“With what he’s saying, I don’t like how he’s expressed it, saying that rappers [swear] is very stereotypical,” Hamilton said. “You think about most rappers are Black, that really kind [of] points it towards, when it says we’re not like them … I think those are the wrong choice of words, there’s a racial element there.”

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc expressed surprise that the FIA had focused on swearing as an issue, and raised a point that many others agreed with over the weekend.

“I think there are other priorities for the FIA to look at,” Leclerc said Thursday. “We are adults … and we are also one of the only sports where we hear the athletes speak during the actual event, and on that actually I would return the favour to the FIA to take off some of our bad words and not broadcast it as much.

“It’s something quite easy to do, and for us to control our words at 300 km/h in between walls for some street tracks is tricky, and we are humans after all. So I don’t see that as much of a priority for now.”

Verstappen’s swearing in the news conference cannot be excused as a ‘heat of the moment’ slip of the tongue, though. In their report, the stewards at the Singapore Grand Prix said Verstappen used “language to describe his car at the event in Azerbaijan which is generally considered ‘coarse, rude’ or may ’cause offense’ and is not considered suitable for broadcast. This is ‘Misconduct’ as defined in Art 20 of the International Sporting Code.”

They went on to note that “the language was not directed at anyone or any group” and that in the past “significant fines have been levied for language offensive to or directed at specific groups.”

This appeared to be a reference to Yuki Tsunoda‘s radio outburst at this year’s Austrian Grand Prix. Although the language was not broadcast on Formula 1’s world feed, the live uncensored audio from each driver’s radio is available to the public via F1 TV and therefore regularly finds its way on to social media. Tsunoda was fined €40,000 for his use of language, of which €20,000 was suspended until the end of the season assuming he avoids a repeat.

The distinction between the use of profanities to describe the behaviour of a car and language that is offensive towards a group of people or individuals is key to F1’s swearing debate. Verstappen, who has previously been accused of using racist and derogatory language on team radio, said he would understand the sanction if his profanity had been targeted at an individual.

“They want to set a precedent [with my penalty],” Verstappen said Saturday. “People got warnings or a little fine [in the past], and now with me they want to set an even bigger example I guess, which for me is a bit weird of course because I didn’t swear at anyone particularly, I just said one thing about my car.”

He also revealed that his fellow drivers, who work together as a collective within the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA), had been equally dismayed on learning of his sanction for swearing.

“I wrote in the GPDA [Whatsapp chat] the ruling, and everyone was almost laughing — you know, like, ‘What the hell is that?’ basically. So, yes, it is very, very silly.”

Based on past precedents of swearing in news conferences, Verstappen is right to feel hard done by. At the Las Vegas Grand Prix last year, Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur and Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff were both given “formal warnings” for using variants of the F-word after a drain cover came loose and damaged Carlos Sainz‘s Ferrari in Friday practice.

In a statement at the following round in Abu Dhabi, a different stewarding panel said: “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.”

However, mitigating circumstances were found in both cases, with Wolff because he “was provoked by an abrupt interjection during the press conference” from a journalist and with Vasseur because he “was extremely upset and frustrated by the incident that had occurred in FP1 and that language such as this, by him, was not usual.”

Such mitigating circumstances were not found in Verstappen’s example, although Wolff came to the Red Bull driver’s defence when he was asked about the situation in Singapore on Sunday night.

“I was at the stewards last year after Las Vegas, and it was quite an enjoyable experience,” he said. “[Vasseur] and I were there at the same time and he was a bit more worried. I said to them it’s the first time since school that I was called to the headmaster and I promised it is going to be the last time.

“Now, having said that, I think there is an argument that big swearing and being rude on the radio is not something that should happen. If it’s so bad that it is disrespectful to the other side of the line, and if there is people at home watching it, the family at home, but the F-word is common language now.

“There is always the context of the way you say it, but we want to have emotions, we want to have raw moments and we understand that the drivers are in a state of extremes. But if we can dim it down a bit, that is good for all of us, but I wouldn’t necessarily ban the F-word. I think that is a straight word and there is worse than that.”

What happens now?

This is not the first time Verstappen has spoken about quitting F1 due to frustrations with the sport. Amid a growing calendar of events — including sprint races at six rounds — the 26-year-old said last year that he was already becoming tired of the intensive schedule.

“I do like racing, I do like winning,” he said in April 2023. “I know that the salary and everything, you have a good life, but is it actually a good life?

“I think sometimes you get to a point in your career where maybe you want to do other stuff. I know that I have a contract until the end of 2028 and then we’ll review again, but I do feel that if it’s getting at one point too much, then it’s time for a change.”

On Sunday, he also cited a fine Sainz received for crossing the track after crashing his Ferrari in qualifying. In the event of an accident, drivers are not allowed to cross a live circuit without the permission of a marshal, although the suspension of the session in Sainz’s case meant the cars still on the track were returning to the pit lane and would not pass the section of track where the Spaniard was crossing.

“Yesterday, I think Carlos got a fine for crossing the track as well, right?” Verstappen said. “I mean, what are we talking about? It’s a red flag. Cars are coming [to the pits]. I think it’s quite safe, and he knows what he’s doing. We’re not stupid.

“These kinds of things, like when I saw it getting noted, I was like, my god. These kinds of things are just super silly.”

While no single issue seems to be enough to convince Verstappen to walk, it’s clear the cumulative effect of various factors could sap his motivation enough to push him into an early retirement from F1.

“For me at one point, when it’s enough, it’s enough, and we’ll see,” Verstappen added on Sunday. “Like I said, racing will go on, F1 will go on also without me. It’s also not a problem for me. It’s how it is.”

In the three-week gap before the next race in Austin, Texas, it’s possible the situation will be resolved — although Verstappen hinted strongly that it would have to be on his terms.

Asked whether a phone call from the FIA president would help, he said: “It’s not only the FIA, also with [Formula One Management]. It’s a whole how you operate.

“Let’s first take a break from it all, from F1 also for two weeks, at least two weeks, and then go at it again in Austin, see where we’re at.”

Whatever happens behind closed doors before the F1 paddock reconvenes, Verstappen has made clear that his “take it or leave it” approach will not change.

“I will always be myself,” he said. “I will not, because of this, change how I am in my life anyway, but also how I’m operating here in F1.”