Mohammed Ben Sulayem has once again come under fire for his remarks about F1 drivers often swearing on team radio. The FIA president used the analogy of rappers using the F-word constantly in their songs, which did not go down well with Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion called out Ben Sulayem’s choice of words despite agreeing with his notion of reducing swearing on radio.
The Race F1 journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm tweeted about Hamilton‘s strong comments and also agreed with his criticism of Ben Sulayem’s comments. Hamilton said,
“I don’t like how he’s expressed it, saying ‘rappers’ is very stereotypical. And most rappers are black. That was the wrong choice of words. There’s a racial element there.”
Even Mitchell-Malm strongly criticized the FIA president. He deemed Ben Sulayem‘s comments as “condescending and very poorly thought through”. The journalist stated, “Intentional or not, he’s perpetrating a stereotype. I just found it baffling and needless.”
Hamilton fine with principle of ‘cleaning up’ language in F1 coverage but on Ben Sulayem’s remarks: “I don’t like how he’s expressed it, saying ‘rappers’ is very stereotypical. And most rappers are black. That was the wrong choice of words. There’s a racial element there.” https://t.co/IbueWo1Wbt
— Scott Mitchell-Malm (@SMitchellF1) September 19, 2024
The original interview has been deleted by Motorsport.com perhaps due to the controversial nature of the comments. However, it has kickstarted a wave of reactions and pushback from the F1 paddock. Mainly drivers like Hamilton and Max Verstappen are pointing out what the FIA and F1 can do instead of putting a clampdown on drivers’ comments.
Verstappen not impressed with Ben Sulayem’s solution
Verstappen is often one of the drivers who swear a lot on the radio when things are not going his way. However, the Dutchman has matured a lot to use expletive language only in extreme situations. Thus, he did not like Ben Sulayem’s notion of wanting to protect children from listening to F1 drivers swearing.
The three-time world champion said, “Even if a five-year-old or six-year-old is watching, they will eventually swear anyway. This is not changing anything.” Moreover, Verstappen has a simpler solution to this problem of keeping the kids away from listening to the swearing during races. He stated,
“I think it starts with not broadcasting it all, not giving the option for people to hear it, in general. That would help a lot more than putting bans on drivers”.
Max Verstappen is unimpressed with FIA president Ben Sulayem’s attempt to curb swearing, particularly over team radio pic.twitter.com/vvyU5KJJui
— The Race (@wearetherace) September 19, 2024
During the 2024 Hungarian GP, Verstappen swore a lot on the team radio and had heated exchanges with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. While his team and several others criticized his angry rants, the Dutchman simply put forth the same solution of not broadcasting such radios with expletive language.
