F1 News
Verstappen gets more support in swearing saga: "We want to see characters"
Karun Chandhok has stood up for Max Verstappen and supported him after the Dutchman received a community service penalty for swearing in a press conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. The former F1 driver turned pundit wants to see more characters in Formula 1, rather than turning them into "robots".
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem made a plea to the drivers ahead of the event in Singapore. He wanted the drivers to reduce the amount of swearing on the team radio. Then, in the Thursday press conference before the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, Verstappen used the word "f***ed" to describe his car at the previous race weekend in Baku. The three-time World Champion was given a community service style penalty, which his biggest rival, Lewis Hamilton, told him not to serve.
The Dutchman has received plenty of support from his F1 rivals and various analysts in the paddock. Chandhok is the latest person to add his name to that list after appearing in a social media Q&A session with fans.
Chandhok supports Verstappen
"This is a bit of a storm in a teacup, to be honest," Chandhok said to summarise the situation. "Yes, I get it. The drivers are ambassadors of the sport and you don't want them swearing and putting off young kids particularly. But equally, they're athletes. There's adrenaline pumping and penalising them for speaking when they're emotional just feels a little bit harsh," Chandhok added.
"I think we want to see characters. We don't want to see robots. We want to see them wear their heart on their sleeves. And also, we have to recognise that for a lot of them English is their second language. Let's say we get an Indian driver or a driver from Japan or China. Are we going to have translators for every language sitting there monitoring every word? It sounds like a fight I'm not sure is worth fighting," he concluded.