FIA set for decision over Leclerc swearing investigation

The FIA is still considering whether or not it will investigate Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc for swearing in Mexico’s press conference, with a call expected on Friday.

In Sunday’s post-race press conference Leclerc used an expletive to describe his mindset as he went off the track at Mexico’s final corner, which allowed McLaren driver Lando Norris through to claim second.

“I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that oversteer, I had an oversteer from the other side and then I was like, ‘f**k’,” he said, before realising he might get in trouble over his language given the FIA’s recent crackdown on swearing.

“Oh, sorry! Oh no, I don’t want to join Max,” Leclerc added, referring to Verstappen being handed a community service penalty for his own use of the word in Azerbaijan.

In Brazil, Verstappen suggested steward bias was behind the fact that he got penalised and Leclerc didn’t.

“Apparently it only counts for me anyway, because after the race in Mexico someone was swearing. I didn’t hear anything from it,” he said.

“It’s weird. Actually what he says is worse than what I said in the context, and it was a much more important press conference with more people watching.”

Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, in the Press Conference

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

But Autosport has since learned the FIA is still set to make a call on Leclerc, having to wait until its stewards panel has travelled to Brazil so they can convene and look into the matter.

A decision on whether Leclerc will be investigated is expected on Friday.

After his swearing penalty, Verstappen held a protest in the FIA’s official press conferences in Singapore, and his case led to unease among other drivers over how severely FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem was clamping down on swearing.

“This goes down to people’s personal opinions,” Mercedes driver and Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director George Russell said in Mexico. “I think for people where English isn’t their native language, they have different views on swearing. And even if you compare, the Brits to the Aussies, they say a specific C-word, which in some context is being polite to someone, whereas if you say that in the UK, that is massively frowned upon.

“So, it goes back to not having a set of regulations that are 100 pages long, saying ‘you’re allowed to say this, you can’t say that’.

“I think common sense needs to be applied, and if somebody does swear inappropriately, then maybe there should be the appropriate fine or whatever against that. A community service tends to be too much for the crime that was committed.”