Red Bull Racing’s talismanic driver Max Verstappen had an eventful F1 Singapore Grand Prix off the track. The Dutchman was given community service as punishment for using the word “f*****” in his way of describing his car during a live FIA press conference on Thursday. Now, the 3-time F1 Drivers’ World Champion has indicated that such a punishment may find him reassessing his future in the pinnacle of motorsport.
For the second time in as many days, Verstappen held a more in-depth press conference where he spoke openly post-race (as opposed to the short answers during the official FIA press conference) to media.
A capacity crowd of journalists, in Red Bull Racing’s hospitality, heard Verstappen’s reply as to whether the FIA punishment was enough to make him think ‘this is enough for me’ and look elsewhere.
“Oh for sure.” stated Verstappen. “Yeah. I mean, these kinds of things definitely decide my future as well. When you can’t be yourself or you have to deal with these kinds of silly things. I think now I’m at a stage of my career that you don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring.
“Of course, it’s great to have success and win races, but once you have accomplished all that, winning championships and races, then you want to just have a good time as well.
“Of course, everyone is pushing to the limit. Everyone in this battle, even at the back of the grid. But if you have to deal with all these kind of silly things: for me, that is not a way of continuing in the sport, that’s for sure.” Explained F1’s current champion.
It is not the first time that Verstappen has hinted at plans for his long-term future in the sport, seeing how the Dutchman said back in April last year: “I think every person is a bit different. It also depends a bit what you want out of your life. Some people just love racing and that’s the only thing they know or want to do. I’m probably a bit more in the middle. I do love racing but I also want to do other kinds of racing.”
Meanwhile, more recently this past weekend back in Singapore, the question was put to Verstappen as to whether he would tell the FIA that maybe they risk pushing a multiple world champion out of the sport
“At the end of the day, I don’t know how serious they will take that kind of stuff. But for me, of course, at one point, when it’s enough, it’s enough and we’ll see. I mean, like I said, racing will go on, F1 will go on also without me, it’s not a problem, but it’s also not a problem for me. So, it’s how it is.”
When asked as to whether he would be up for a conversation with the FIA president, Verstappen remarked: “I think it’s not only the FIA, also with FOM, it’s how you operate together.”
There has certainly been plenty of furore online for both sides of the argument with regard to the swearing issue. However, there are so many other areas which surely need to be addressed before devoting so much energy to this.
Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsport but it is not without its problems. Try as they might, the sport’s owners appear to be trying to resolve issues but this season has shown that there is a lot more needing to be done.
From the spectator side of the sport, there is clear inconsistency between which races permit food and drink being brought in from outside and which do not. As well as this there are tracks which have many more free water stations then others. Not only this but the price of merchandise on-site is sometimes double what can be found online from the same supplier due to the overheads the seller has to pay to be there in the first place.
As for the competitive element on track, with just 20 cars on the grid, the sport also needs more teams to allow more drivers to make their way to the grid. Franco Colapinto has shown in a very short time his capability but has a fight on his hands to have any chance of a 2025 F1 seat. The only realistic option seems to be Sauber – but that would mean popular fan favourite Valtteri Bottas missing out. Already we look set to be deprived of Daniel Ricciardo’s presence on an F1 grid and the reaction that has had on fans has been vocal. As has the need for Andretti Global to join F1 – but the door remains closed to the racing outfit.
All of this comes even before the current hot topic issue of dynamic pricing as circuits effectively fleece F1 racegoers for their hard-earned money as much as they can so that it can counterbalance the circuit costs at other times of the year. Obviously, the counter argument here is that without a circuit surviving from maximising a race weekend – there will not be one to race at in future.
Many column inches have been written about the choice of venues which are selected to host F1 and in particular those with an interesting interpretation of human rights. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were always vocal on this point much to the delight of F1 fans and the seven-time F1 Drivers’ Champion frequently remarks as to how an F1 Grand Prix needs to be back on the calendar in Africa once again.
Meanwhile, looking at the issues on track, we have a generation of cars which are too big for many circuits on the calendar (leading to processional races) and too quiet for many fans. Vettel again seems busy crusading in this area. However, it did not take long for Formula 1 to dismiss the 4-time F1 Drivers’ World Champion’s suggestion that it should rethink plans for turbo hybrid engines in favour of going back to the core-memory making screaming V10 power units running on sustainable fuels.
The swearing issue had a spotlight shone on it after FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said “we have to differentiate between our sport – motorsport – and rap music.” It has been widely published that Sulayem comparing swearing from drivers on team radio to rap artists did not sit well with Hamilton. The Mercedes driver said in regard to this remark: “I don’t like how he’s expressed it” before continuing later that “I think those are the wrong choice of words and there’s a racial element there.”
F1 drivers are heroes to many fans but heroes are not without their flaws. A famous superhero lives by the mantra ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ With that in mind, F1’s governing body certainly has a great deal of power and they also have a great responsibility to make the sport the best it can be.
F1 has already done so much in recent years: F1 in Schools initiatives; getting involved in road safety; making F1 accessible to fans who cannot attend races in person and many other great steps for the sport. Once again though, a small issue seems set to threaten the sport. Talk of champions leaving and Hamilton telling his rival not to do the community service is what has captured the headlines when there are so many other areas of the sport which should be addressed instead.
F1 may well have 99 problems (for some people many more – for others many less) but the swearing isn’t one.
