F1 Leaders Back Drivers in Expletive FIA Clash

Vasseur and Vowles rally behind drivers, challenging the FIA’s crackdown on racetrack language.

According to Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the pressing issue of the moment is the curbing of profanities in Formula 1, whether uttered by drivers behind the wheel or during press conferences.

Max Verstappen, who used the F-word in a press conference in Baku this Thursday, has already fallen foul of the FIA. He is, indeed, required to undertake community service as a result.

How do team principals in the paddock view this new display of authority from the FIA president?

Frédéric Vasseur initially responds with a touch of humour for Ferrari… before siding with the drivers.

“First of all, I’m not sure I’m the best reference to discuss this!”

“And I think we need to make a distinction concerning the language used by drivers during races. After all, we are one of the few sports where… You don’t have a microphone on a football player or anything like that. I don’t want to use the football player as a benchmark, but we must also understand that drivers are operating a vehicle at 350 km/h.”

“I’m not sure their language is their first priority while driving, and I can completely understand that.”

“We can discuss the other approach, and I won’t do it for obvious reasons, but I think when they are in the car, it’s a bit tough.”

At Williams F1, James Vowles also finds several mitigating circumstances for the drivers. Do we really want sterilized drivers who prefer to say ‘goodness gracious’ and ‘by jove’?

“Fred is right. I mean, when you are in the heat of the moment and you believe someone has endangered your life, which is often the case, anyone, everyone in this room, would have an emotional response to that.”

James Vowles acknowledges, however, that drivers do not always have valid reasons to swear.

“I understand that we are a global sport and there are aspects we need to keep under control. There are other situations where language may have been used during an out-lap or in the pit lane, and that can absolutely be avoided.”

“But we also need to keep in mind that some of the finest athletes in the world are putting their lives on the line like gladiators, and that elicits an emotional response. No matter how calmly I speak to them, the adrenaline continues to flow in their bodies and it would be very difficult to remedy that.”

“I mean, Franco (Colapinto) swore during free practice, if I’m being completely transparent, but we will have a discussion with him about it later. It’s not for any other reason than he forgot something. We can fix that. But I think in the heat of the action, we’re asking a lot of the athletes.”