Max Verstappen has hit back at FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem after he criticised F1’s drivers for their foul language used during radio communications with race engineers.
During the FOM broadcast, snippets of radio communications between drivers and race engineers are played to enhance the viewer experience and tell a clearer picture of the feeling within the cockpit.
These messages can often be intense as they capture the adrenaline experienced by drivers in the heat of battle, and there are often expletives involved. These are bleeped out by FOM on the TV broadcast.
FIA president Ben Sulayem is not a fan of the colourful language occasionally used by drivers. “I mean, we have to differentiate between our sport – motorsport – and rap music,” he told Motorsport.com. “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].”
The Emirati official is even planning to take action. “We can and we are,” he continued. “We are the ones who actually approved more talk [on the broadcast]. But we have rules, and the rules are there for the benefit of the sport and the rules are there to be policed and to be respected also.”
When these comments were relayed to reigning world champion Verstappen ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, the Dutchman was less than impressed.
“A lot of people say a lot of bad things when they are full of adrenaline in other sports, it just doesn’t get picked up. I couldn’t even say the F-word… It’s not even that bad. What are we five year olds, six year olds?”
Verstappen himself came in for criticism earlier this summer after slamming the Red Bull strategists during the second half of the Hungarian Grand Prix, but the Dutchman stayed true to his opinion when pressed for an apology in the media after the race.
“I don’t think we need to apologise,” he told Sky Sports F1. “I just think we need to do a better job. I don’t know why people think you cannot be vocal on a radio. This is a sport. If some people don’t like that then stay home.”
