F1 driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands raises his trophy after the Japanese Method One Grand Prix on April 6, 2025.
Shuji Kajiyama/AP/AP
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Shuji Kajiyama/AP/AP
The governing physique that oversees Method One racing is nervous about F1 drivers dropping F-bombs, and now the game’s most distinguished driver says he feels… inhibited.
Max Verstappen, the 4-time world champion for the Pink Bull Racing workforce, was given a penalty over his remarks at a press convention final fall, when he mentioned “As quickly as I went into qualifying, I knew the automobile was…” after which he detonated the F-word. As an adjective.
Race stewards handed down a report saying the Dutch driver reminded them that English just isn’t his native language; and that “the phrase used is strange in speech as he realized it.”
Maybe Max Verstappen realized nuts-and-bolts English in racetrack pit-stops, the place crews most likely did not say, “Zounds! Methinks ye tires are elvish-marked!”
The stewards mentioned that also, “it is necessary for position fashions to be taught to be aware when talking in public boards…”
And so, two weekends in the past Max Verstappen instructed reporters on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that he felt he could not communicate freely a couple of 5 second penalty he obtained in a race he misplaced by 2.8 seconds “as a result of I’d get penalized … It is actually simply how every little thing is changing into; everyone seems to be super-sensitive about every little thing.”
There have been extra F-bombs and different colourful phrases heard in some race protection, as extra broadcasters put microphones into the helmets of drivers.
The FIA underneath president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been issuing level deductions and fines for swearing. Drivers have complained. Sulayem says he is now contemplating easing such punishments.
And naturally, the game is all about driving. I don’t also have a driver’s license, however my spouse drives. She is the kindest soul on the planet, however when she will get lower off or tailgated, she will swear like a French sailor.
What do the race stewards imagine an F1 driver is meant to utter if one other automobile cuts them off on a nook at greater than 200 mph? “Talley-ho, esteemed competitor! I applaud your suave maneuver!”
If race stewards wish to get F-bombs out of F1 racing, possibly they need to put the drivers on tricycles. They will pedal spherical and spherical, simply tinkling little bells on their handlebars and protruding their tongues at one another.
