F1 News
Formula 1 warns team bosses after Verstappen's swearing: 'This must stop!'
- GPblog.com
The Formula One organisation has reportedly listened with some disgust to Max Verstappen's swearing during and after the Hungarian Grand Prix, including to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. According to English newspaper The Times, Formula One Management informed team bosses last week to warn their drivers to watch their language.
The issue of swearing was reportedly raised during the committee meeting held by Formula One Management (FOM) with the team bosses in London on Tuesday. Formula One's CEO Stefano Domenicali reportedly reminded the team bosses that communications between driver and team are broadcast.
Although FOM does filter the conversations over the on-board radio, according to Domenicali, what Verstappen shouted could be considered offensive by viewers. Moreover, he pointed out that Formula 1 also has young viewers. Following that, some team bosses apparently revealed that the stewards deal inconsistently with driver swearing. For example, Yuki Tsunoda was recently fined 40,000 euros for using the word 'retard'.
'Formula One drivers are role models'
Before the Las Vegas Grand Prix last season, team managers Toto Wolff (Mercedes) and Frédéric Vasseur (Ferrari) received official warnings after swearing during an FIA press conference. At the time, the stewards revealed that it was unacceptable for people with a "high public profile" to be "role models" and as a result should watch their language.
Domenicali reportedly used similar wording during the meeting. On the other hand, there were also team bosses who pointed out that Formula 1 itself decided to broadcast the utterances over the on-board radio, although these were initially intended for internal conversations within a team.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy