Max Verstappen was penalized in Singapore for swearing in the press conference: Johnny Herbert, one of the commissioners that weekend, has this to say about it.
The swear word debate in Formula 1 has caused quite a stir around the Singapore Grand Prix. After FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem called for fewer curses from the drivers, Max Verstappen used the word “fucked” in the press conference, thereby drawing the displeasure of the federation.
The Dutchman was ordered by the commissioners to do community service and in later press conferences he defiantly only gave monosyllabic answers. Now former driver and commissioner Johnny Herbert speaks in Singapore and explains why this punishment for the world champion was chosen.
“There is more swearing than ever and the press conference is not the right place for that,” the Briton gives CasinoHawks an initial assessment of the topic. Herbert would not sign that the sport is trying to turn the drivers into tame robots. ‘They are only asked not to swear, which is also right,’ he says.
After the press conference, the incident involving Verstappen was referred to the commissioners, who were to deal with the matter. “We had an open discussion with Max in a difficult situation for about 20 minutes, half an hour,” recalls the 160-time Grand Prix participant.
Community service more useful than a fine
“You could see in his face how upset he was about it,“ he says, but he didn’t blame the commissioners themselves, since they only implement the rules and only have a certain amount of leeway.
”We could have fined him, but we thought it would be more useful if he did something to show social responsibility,” says Herbert. “What that will be is up to Max and the FIA.”
But the issue was blown out of proportion when Verstappen only gave half-baked answers in the press conference after qualifying and preferred to answer questions from journalists outside the press room.
Herbert likes this “rebellious streak” in Verstappen, as he says, because he is an honest and open character. But: “There is a time and a place for everything, and personally, I think there is too much swearing. I don’t want my five-year-old grandson to hear that kind of language.”
Drivers are now much closer together
But Herbert was surprised by the fact that basically all the drivers sided with Verstappen: “The drivers are closer together than I’ve seen them in many years. They have much stronger opinions on issues,” he says, hoping that a solution can be found to the curse dispute as well.
“There has to be an understanding that both sides have to work together. I know the FIA president is unhappy with foul language. The drivers agree that swearing at a press conference is not right,” said Herbert.
“It’s just something that has built up from the President’s initial ‘rapper’ remark, which some found offensive, to Max being dragged in front of the commissioners in Singapore.”
