FIA risks F1 CHAOS in hypocritical new Max Verstappen battle
FIA risks F1 CHAOS in hypocritical new Max Verstappen battle
Max Verstappen faced one of the toughest race days of his Formula 1 career so far on Sunday, toiling in the searing hot streets of Singapore at the wheel of an increasingly substandard Red Bull car, attempting to limit the damage done to his championship lead by rival Lando Norris.
Norris’ McLaren has been the consistently quicker car since the Miami Grand Prix in May, and the papaya machine was imperious at the Marina Bay Circuit this time around, with the Brit eventually winning from pole by more than 20 seconds after leading every single lap.
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An impressive second-place finish for Verstappen will have tempered the disappointment of Norris’ win to a degree, but the Dutchman’s mood throughout the weekend was dominated by a new, tumultuous battle of a very different nature.
Following a pre-race weekend press conference on Thursday in which Verstappen referred to the performance of his RB20 car at the previous round in Azerbaijan using an expletive, the FIA issued him a punishment requiring him to "accomplish some work of public interest". A kind of community service punishment for swearing, essentially.
The decision led to ridicule from other drivers, criticism from the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association which serves as a union for F1 racers, and ceaseless scorn from Verstappen himself.
The 26-year-old responded to the charge by refusing to co-operate with FIA media duties during the rest of the weekend, delivering one or two word replies to questions from reporters in official press conferences and hosting impromptu media sessions of his own in the paddock away from the FIA’s influence.
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How did Verstappen react to his punishment for swearing in Singapore?
"There is of course no desire to give long answers there when you get treated like that," Verstappen told the press in the paddock, explaining his decision to make a mockery of the FIA’s media procedures.
"I never really felt like I had a bad relationship with them. So for me it was just quite straightforward, I know I have to answer [in the news conference] but it doesn’t say how long you have to answer for."
Verstappen’s brief, blunt replies in those press conferences were with met chuckles from fellow drivers including Norris, his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, and long-time rival Lewis Hamilton. Norris and Hamilton both made clear that they vehemently disagreed with Verstappen’s punishment, with Hamilton adding that he hopes Verstappen will not abide by the community service ruling.
Verstappen’s ire centred around his belief that he was punished for showing emotion.
"If you can’t really be yourself to the fullest, then it’s better not to speak," Verstappen said. "But that’s what no one wants because then you become a robot and that’s not how you should be going about it in the sport. You should be able to show emotions in a way. That’s what racing is about.”
Since its takeover by Liberty Media in 2017, and through initiatives like the Drive to Survive Netflix series, much closer social media access, and a greater focus on emotional storytelling, F1 has earned enormous success by marketing itself on the personalities of its biggest stars.
That includes celebrating them in their most glorious moments, and pushing cameras in their faces to capture their reaction to their lowest ebbs. The racing may still be the fundamental basis of the product but the joy, the gossip and the outbursts are an increasingly integral part of the show which F1 is selling.
Verstappen has crossed the line with his tirades in the past, including at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this year when he repeatedly lambasted his own team with a string of profanities, but to chastise him for a throwaway jibe in a press conference which was directed at nobody in particular, he argued, was petty and entirely needless.
READ MORE: FIA confirm Verstappen and Norris legal inspection after Singapore Grand Prix
Could Verstappen leave F1 over swearing debacle?
F1 and the FIA have been at odds over a plethora of matters in recent years and it is important to note that it is the latter, not the former, which has decided to turn this non-issue into a public battle with the leading driver in the field.
Verstappen himself, having already openly discussed the possibility of moving on from F1 at some point in the near future if he does not feel he is garnering enough enjoyment from continuing to participate, said the matter could have an impact of his future.
Even ignoring the sheer hypocrisy of demanding both constant expressiveness and total vocabulary restraint from young men performing in such an ultra-competitive, highly-pressurised environment, the fact that Verstappen and his fellow drivers have treated the decision with such derision should make the FIA reconsider whether this is really a fight worth waging.
If they opt to continue with the clampdown, then the wedge between F1 and the FIA could be driven even deeper and lead to chaos far beyond the use of a simple swear word.
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F1 Race Calendar 2024
-
GP JAPAN
5 - 7 Apr
Max Verstappen
-
GP CHINA
19 - 21 Apr
Max Verstappen
-
GP USA
3 - 5 May
Lando Norris
-
GP ITALY
17 - 19 May
Max Verstappen
-
GP MONACO
24 - 26 May
Charles Leclerc
-
GP CANADA
7 - 9 Jun
Max Verstappen
-
GP SPAIN
21 - 23 Jun
Max Verstappen
-
GP AUSTRIA
28 - 30 Jun
George Russell
-
GP GREAT BRITAIN
5 - 7 Jul
Lewis Hamilton
-
GP HUNGARY
19 - 21 Jul
Oscar Piastri
-
GP BELGIUM
26 - 28 Jul
Lewis Hamilton
-
GP NETHERLANDS
23 - 25 Aug
Lando Norris
-
GP ITALY
30 Aug - 1 Sep
Charles Leclerc
-
GP AZERBAIJAN
13 - 15 Sep
Oscar Piastri
-
GP SINGAPORE
20 - 22 Sep
Lando Norris
- GP USA 18 - 20 Oct
- GP MEXICO 25 - 27 Oct
- GP BRAZIL 1 - 3 Nov
- GP USA 22 - 24 Nov
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Franco Alejandro Colapinto
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Oliver Bearman
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- AWS Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
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