Verstappen gets support from Massa: 'What the FIA did is not nice'

F1 News

felipe massa stands up for verstappen and is critical of fia
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  • Ludo van Denderen

Many big names in the F1 paddock have backed Max Verstappen after the Dutchman was given a community service penalty by FIA stewards for swearing during a press conference. Earlier this week, for instance, Guenther Steiner stated in conversation with GPblog that a situation worse than a one-off use of the word 'f***ed' has now been created by the FIA. Felipe Massa is also critical of the motorsport federation.

Speaking to Motorsport-Total, Massa explained that with everything in life, there is an imaginary line that you can't cross. But swearing during a press moment is not crossing the line. "You can't say something that crosses that boundary," Massa argues, who goes on to say that Verstappen, therefore, did not do something that deserves a penalty.

Massa saw drivers opposing Verstappen's penalty

The driver is not alone. Like many others, such as Guenther Steiner, Massa does not think that Verstappen's punishment was right. "If you met someone in football and they had a microphone, what do you think they would say? Everything has a limit, but what happened with the FIA and what they did to Max was not nice—and you can see that all the drivers are completely against it."

The F1 drivers are expected to discuss the issue ahead of the US Grand Prix in Austin; with each other and the FIA. It is still unclear exactly what Verstappen will have to do as community service. The motorsport federation has not revealed anything about that as yet.

This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton