“I Don’t Think It Was Necessary”: Guenther Steiner on Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s Crackdown on Cursing

The FIA’s president Mohammed Ben Sulayem recently introduced a rule to counter excessive swearing by the drivers. However, his desire to make the role models of F1 stop using curse words has backfired. Now, the former Haas team boss, Guenther Steiner — who used to drop a lot of F-bombs — has shared his two cents on the ongoing swear words controversy.

The former Haas boss is on the fence on this matter. He believes there’s both right and wrong in these efforts. However, this situation being blown out of proportion could’ve been avoided. Steiner explained how the drivers’ radio comments involving swear words in the heat of the moment are never personal and are because of an incident on the track.

Moreover, the broadcasters and the Formula One Management, already do an incredible job in censoring the words while transcribing the radio conversations. Hence, speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner said the unnecessary drama could’ve been avoided. He said, “I don’t think it was necessary to make such a big thing out of it.“

The host also mentioned how Ben Sulayem is on a roll to exercise his powers as the president of the governing body. After Steiner’s instigation, the panel briefly discussed the various other bans that created an uproar even two years ago.

Steiner questions the FIA’s priorities after issuing another ban on drivers

Before the swear word ban, the FIA put a little restriction on the freedom of speech. They banned the drivers from making political statements during race weekends via the F1 platform. Before that, they also banned drivers from wearing jewelry and made stringent rules about fireproof innerwear. All these recent rules and changes made Steiner question the Ben Sulayem-led governing body’s priorities.

When the host suggested it felt like a “power trip”, Steiner ignored the remark. However, he did highlight the previous bans. The 59-year-old added, “For me, it’s very similar to, when was it last year two years ago, about the earrings what do you call the jewelry. We are in 2024. I mean that is what I try to recognize. I mean you know somebody wearing an earring could I care less.”

The Italian even mocked by saying, “Cut your hair man” to highlight how ridiculous these rules are. The host pointed out the front and rear-wing complaints going around from various teams. Instead, the most outspoken action has been taken toward the curse words.