“Drivers Also Have Egos”: Jos Verstappen Warns FIA for Blowing Max’s ‘F*ck’ Out of Proportion

Amidst all the hype on track last season, one of the biggest talking points off of it was the FIA’s rigid stance on drivers using profanity. Max Verstappen faced the brunt of this when he was issued a community service penalty for using the word “f*ck” during the post-race press conference at the 2024 Singapore GP.

His father, Jos Verstappen, has now come on record to lambast the governing body of the sport. More particularly, he singled out FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, whose ego drive started this mess in the first place according to the 52-year-old.

Speaking to Formule1.nl, Jos said, “Well, the FIA ​​obviously overdid it with those penalties. You can’t give a penalty every time someone says f*ck. The drivers have egos as well. But talk to them and make it clear that they should use certain words as little as possible.”

The former Benetton driver went on to explain that in the heat of the moment, that particular swear word isn’t even aimed at someone or something. Moreover, he highlighted how F1 is a sport of high emotions and the FIA shouldn’t be trying to eliminate that from it.

How Lewis Hamilton stood up for Max after his swearing controversy

It was right before the Singapore GP that Ben Sulayem had stated that he was going to go after the drivers who swore during the press conferences. Unfortunately for Max, he was the one to utter those words.

It led to a huge hue and cry from the governing body, who deemed it fit to slap a community service penalty on the now four-time world champion. But it isn’t only the Red Bull driver’s father who is up in arms about the FIA’s latest mandates.

Hamilton had himself come on record to denounce the FIA’s penalty. He was quoted as saying, “I think it’s a bit of a joke to be honest. This is the pinnacle of the sport. Mistakes are made. I certainly won’t be doing it (community service) and I hope Max doesn’t do it.”