Max Verstappen says swearing sanction could hasten his exit from F1

Max Verstappen says the “silly” way in which the FIA has treated him by handing him a community service order for swearing in a press conference could hasten his departure from Formula One.

Verstappen was asked in Thursday’s official FIA press conference when exactly he realised his car had an issue at the previous weekend’s race in Baku. The Red Bull driver said he realised as soon as he left the pits for qualifying that it was “f-----”.

After being given a verbal warning by the moderator, Verstappen was summoned to see the stewards and subsequently ordered to “accomplish some work of public interest”.

It is unclear what he will have to do but Red Bull’s three-time world champion spent two days shadowing stewards at a Formula E race in Marrakesh in 2019 after shoving Esteban Ocon in Brazil.

Verstappen was clearly infuriated by the FIA’s ruling and effectively refused to answer questions in the official post-qualifying conference on Saturday, preferring to give fuller answers in a huddle with journalists in the Singapore paddock.

The Red Bull driver gave slightly more lengthy responses after finishing second behind McLaren’s Lando Norris in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, but once again he only fully opened up once he had left the official press conference room.

“These kinds of things definitely decide my future as well, when you can’t be yourself or you have to deal with these kinds of silly things,” he said. “Now I am at the stage of my career where you don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring.

“For me, that is not a way of continuing in the sport, that’s for sure.”

‘If you can’t really be yourself, then it’s better not to speak’

Rivals such as Norris and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton both backed Verstappen on Saturday. The latter actually advised the Dutch driver not to carry out the FIA’s order, describing the punishment as “a joke”. And Verstappen said he had now received the backing of virtually all of his colleagues.

“I wrote in the GPDA [Grand Prix Drivers’ Association] WhatsApp chat the ruling and everyone was almost laughing,” he said. “Like, ‘what the hell is that?’ So it is very silly.

“If you can’t really be yourself to the fullest, then it’s better not to speak. But that’s what no one wants because then you become a robot and that’s not how you should be going about it in the sport.

“You should be able to show emotions in a way. That’s what racing is about. Any sport.

“Anyone on the pitch, if they get tackled, or get pushed or they are not happy with something or there is a frustrating moment, or something they get asked about, it’s quite normal there can be a sort of reaction.”

Verstappen said he did not know whether it would be worth speaking directly to the sport’s governing body or to its president Mohammed ben Sulayem, who last week called for F1 drivers to stop acting “like rappers” and swearing so much.

“It’s not only FIA, it’s also F1,” he said. “It’s a whole how you operate together.”

Asked how long he would continue to give clipped responses in news conferences, Verstappen – who also said that he was unimpressed by the fine handed out to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for crossing the track during a red flag period in Singapore – said he would “see where we are at” by the time of the next race in Austin next month.

“There is of course no desire to then give long answers there when you get treated like that,” he said. “I never really felt like I had a bad relationship with them.

“Even this year I did voluntary work with junior stewards. I gave them half an hour interview. It was all set up. I try to help out if they have little favours or whatever.

“I am not a difficult person to say no, I am like: ‘OK, sure, if that’s what you guys like, I like to help out.’ And then I get treated like that? Well, that’s just not how it works.

“So for me it was just quite straightforward, I know I have to answer [in the news conference] but it doesn’t say how long you have to answer for.”