Verstappen: F1 going ‘soft’ after FIA f-word fallout

Max Verstappen feels F1 is becoming “all a bit too soft” following his fallout with the FIA and president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

After finishing a distant runner-up to McLaren’s Lando Norris in the Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen again took it upon himself to deliver short responses to the questions posed to him during the official FIA top-three press conference, as he had done so the day before after finishing second quickest in qualifying.

And for the second successive day, Verstappen proceeded to stage a more expansive written media briefing afterwards. Post-qualifying, it was a huddle in the paddock. Post-race, it was inside Red Bull’s paddock building at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

It all followed the ‘community service’ punishment meted out to him by the FIA after he used the f-word during Thursday’s official FIA drivers’ press conference, which had come hours after Ben Sulayem had said he wanted drivers to cut out swearing as they were “not rappers”.

Explaining his feelings on the situation and his penalty, Verstappen said: “For me personally, there is absolutely no desire to give long answers when you get treated like that.

“I never really felt like I had a bad relationship with him [Ben Sulayem]. Even this year, I did voluntary work with junior stewards, giving a half-an-hour interview they set up. So I tried to help out, to give little favours or whatever. I’m not a difficult person who will say no.

“[I am more like] ‘Okay, sure, if that’s what you guys like, I like to help out’, and then you get treated like that. That’s just not how it works.

“So for me, it was quite straightforward. Because I know I have to answer [in an FIA press conference], but it doesn’t say how long you have to answer for.”

Verstappen not a robot

Post-qualifying, Verstappen had said he was being made an example of by the FIA considering previous punishments for the use of bad language in an FIA press conference, such as Fred Vasseur and Toto Wolff in Las Vegas last year, resulted in only formal warnings for the Ferrari and Mercedes team principals.

The three-time F1 champion feels what has unfolded over the past few days is a further poor indicator of the direction the sport is heading.

Asked whether he had any idea as to why he had been treated in such a way, he replied: “It’s just the wording, the ruling, that the sport is heading into for me personally, you know, with these kind of things.

“I know, of course, you can’t insult people. That is quite straightforward, and no one really wants to do that.

“It’s all a bit too soft really, and honestly, it’s silly. It’s super silly what we’re dealing with.”

For Verstappen, he firmly believes he is being denied the opportunity to be authentic. “For sure.

“If you can’t really be yourself to the fullest, then it’s better not to speak. At the end of the day, that’s what no one wants because then you become a robot, and it’s now how you should be going about it in the sport.”