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george russell reacts to max verstappen and his swearing punishment

Russell worried F1 will lose its "raw emotion" in the swearing aftermath

Today at 08:00
  • Olly Darcy
  • Editor

George Russell does not want F1 to lose its "raw emotion" as he reacts to the Max Verstappen swearing incident at the Singapore Grand Prix. Russell, the director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, the GDPA, an organisation representing the interest of the F1 drivers, was asked to voice his thoughts on the matter, which have all stemmed from the FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem wanting less swearing in the sport.

In Thursday's press conference at the Marina Bay Circuit, Verstappen used the word "f*****" to describe his car, and he was given a fine and one day's community service. Two days later, in another FIA press conference after taking P2 in qualifying, Verstappen gave blunt one-word answers, while Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton both said the Dutchman's punishment was far too harsh, with Hamilton even saying he would not carry it out if he were punished.

Alexander Wurz, the GPDA president, also revealed on Saturday that the drivers' WhatsApp group had 'exploded' in the aftermath of the Verstappen penalty. Norris and Hamilton supported Verstappen and believed that the penalty given to the Red Bull driver was far too harsh. 

Russell: "You want to be able to express yourself as you deserve"

When the question of the Verstappen debacle was directed towards Russell, he was slightly less outspoken than his teammate at Mercedes, but was not keen on the potential emotion being taken away from the sport: "I think we definitely don't want to take that raw emotion away from the drivers. I think that's key in our sport. Maybe in a press conference, there's merit in saying we need to keep our words clean. But for sure, on the radio, you want to be able to express yourself as you deserve."

Last season in Las Vegas, Toto Wolff and Frederic Vasseur, the team principals of Mercedes and Ferrari, respectively, were given a warning for swearing during an FIA press conference. Russell did not know how to answer when asked if Verstappen is being made an example out of: "I really don't know. It's all... Yeah. I really don't know what to even think of it. I don't know."

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy