Max Verstappen has threatened that he may leave Formula One because of his dissatisfaction with how the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is running the sport and what he referred to as the governing body’s “silly” insistence on pursuing issues such as drivers swearing, for which he was punished at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen finished second behind McLaren’s Lando Norris at the Marina Bay circuit on Sunday, with the British driver cutting the world champion’s title lead to 52 points. Afterwards, Verstappen launched a broadside at the FIA after he had been given a community service punishment for swearing in the press conference held pre-race on Thursday, when he described his car as “fucked”.
Verstappen had already made his displeasure with their decision clear and when asked after the race if these types of petty altercations with the governing body would impact on his future in the sport, the 26-year-old was unequivocal. “For sure, yeah,” he said. “I mean, these kinds of things definitely decide my future as well. When you can’t be yourself, you have to deal with these kinds of silly things. Now I’m at a stage of my career that I don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring.”
Before the weekend began, the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, had made his position clear, stating he did not want drivers to swear, comparing it unfavourably to rap artists. Lewis Hamilton dismissed this comment as being influenced by a racial bias and stereotyping. Norris and Verstappen were among other drivers who also felt Ben Sulayem did not need to pursue such a trivial matter.
A day later Verstappen swore in the press conference and he was then given a punishment of a day’s community service. He subsequently reacted by attending the post-qualifying FIA press conference on Saturday and responding to all the questions with replies that were all but monosyllabic and instead agreeing to speak to journalists in full outside the confines of the FIA session, which he duly did in the paddock.
After Sunday’s race, Verstappen continued his go-slow in the press conference, once more answering with the bare minimum of engagement required and once more speaking to journalists in full when it had finished.
He said that, despite his success, with three titles and a chance of a fourth this year, the FIA was sucking the joy out of racing for him. “Of course it’s great to have success and win races, but once you have accomplished all that, winning championships and races, then you want to just have a good time as well,” he said. “Everyone is pushing to the limit. Everyone in this battle, even at the back of the grid. But if you have to deal with all these kind of silly things: for me, that is not a way of continuing in the sport, that’s for sure.”
Hamilton, who was sixth in Singapore, had dismissed the FIA’s position as “a joke” and suggested Verstappen should not take part in his punishment, insisting he would not do so had it been handed to him.
The FIA has yet to make any comment on Verstappen’s comments or his stance in the press conference and the Dutchman questioned whether they would even pay any attention to the risk of losing a world champion from the sport prematurely. “I don’t know how seriously they will take that kind of stuff but for me, at one point, when it’s enough, it’s enough,” he said. “We’ll see. Everything will go on, I have no doubt. It’s not a problem because Formula One will go on without me, but it’s also not a problem for me. So it’s how it is.”
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After the race both Mercedes drivers, Hamilton and George Russell, who finished fourth, withdrew from their media duties suffering from what the team described as “borderline heatstroke”.
The 62-lap race in Singapore is one of the most gruelling on the calendar, with 19 corners undertaken in high heat and humidity. The track temperature on Sunday was 37C and, for the first time in the history of the race, there was no respite from a deployment of the safety car. Both drivers were considered ill after the race and received medical attention.
Toto Wolff, the team principal, said: “They did not feel well, borderline heatstroke or something like that but they have had water. They would not have been able to go to the [media] pen. There were no bad feelings or any annoyance. It is just that we had the doctors with them. But they are all good.”
