Max Verstappen punished for swearing in F1 news conference

SINGAPORE (AP) — Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was punished Friday for swearing in a news conference in which he argued against greater restrictions on drivers swearing.

Stewards ruling for the sport's governing body, the FIA, decided Verstappen should “accomplish some work of public interest." Exactly what that involves is to be agreed with the FIA.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen used an expletive Thursday to describe his car's performance in qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the week before.

The stewards' ruling Friday said the Dutch driver argued the word was “ordinary in speech as he learned it, English not being his native language.” The stewards said that Verstappen was a role model and should be “mindful when speaking in public forums".

At the same news conference, Verstappen argued against “putting bans on drivers” for swearing. He said airing drivers' radio messages during races if they included swearing was a question for broadcasters.

“In other sports you don’t run around with a mic attached to you. I think a lot of people say a lot of bad things when they are full of adrenaline in other sports, it just doesn’t get picked up,” he said.

The ruling comes after FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem criticized the amount of swearing, telling the motorsport.com website that “we have to differentiate between our sport — motorsport — and rap music."

Ben Sulayem was criticized by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who said he used “stereotypical” language about rappers with a “racial element”.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing