Ex-Haas team principal Günther Steiner believes the FIA should have discussed the swearing ban with the drivers in a smaller group – words are often not meant to be nasty
A big topic this winter was the FIA’s new curse ban. If Formula 1 drivers (or drivers in other FIA racing series) make inappropriate comments in public, they face financial and, in extreme cases, even sporting penalties in 2025.
“In my opinion, the problem could have been dealt with at a much lower level without making it such a big issue,” said ex-Haas team principal Günther Steiner, criticizing the International Automobile Federation in this context.
In his opinion, they should have simply sat down with the drivers in a small group and asked them not to swear in press conferences or TV interviews in the future. But instead, the topic caused a lot of public discussion.
“They’re all adults,” recalls Steiner, who also finds it “not appropriate” to use swear words in an official press conference. However, it is a different matter if a driver slips up and uses such a word during a duel on the track.
“What can you say when you’re full of adrenaline?” says Steiner in defense of the drivers, explaining that in such heated situations, you might use a few words “that are not exactly flattering.” Steiner emphasizes: “It’s part of the emotion.”
“A sport also thrives on emotions. We are not an AI sport. It’s not a robot driving this car. They are human and they have emotions,” recalls the long-standing Haas team principal.
Steiner: Words can sometimes “slip out”
There has already been a first case this year of a driver being asked to pay. Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux was fined 10,000 euros after an incident during the World Rally Championship in Sweden in February.
Another 20,000 euros were suspended on probation. The reason for this was the use of “inappropriate language” in an interview that was broadcast live on television. Specifically, the Frenchman said: “We fucked up yesterday.”
“I didn’t hear it live. I only read about it,” explains Steiner. “It was from someone whose mother tongue is not English. It obviously slipped out,” he says in defense of Fourmaux, explaining that he hadn’t meant to offend anyone.
Now the rally driver has to pay ‘a lot of money,’ which Steiner finds only partially understandable. ‘In my opinion, we’ve made too big a deal out of this,’ says the 59-year-old, who is no stranger to controversy himself.
In the second season of the Netflix series “Drive to Survive”, thanks to which Steiner achieved a certain cult status, the then head of the Haas team set a “record” in 2020, for example: in episode 2, he said the word “fuck” nine times in just 30 seconds…
