Max Verstappen had an unnecessary falling out with the FIA at the Singapore GP weekend. The stewards reprimanded the Dutchman for swearing during the Thursday press conference, which prompted Verstappen to effectively boycott the media sessions, as he rebelled by giving one-word answers to questions.
Not only that, Verstappen even assured the journalists from external publications that he would answer their questions outside of the press conference room. The Red Bull driver followed through on this promise and had his personal press conference in the Singapore GP paddock on both the qualifying and race day.
Cut to the US GP weekend in Austin, and Verstappen was giving full-fledged answers to F1 presenter Tom Clarkson, who hosted the press conference. One of the journalists on the floor asked him about the same after the Sprint Race. “You’ve given quite full answers, does that mean your boycott of these press conferences is over?”
On this, Verstappen jokingly replied, “No, I’m just a good person.” This sent a wave of laughter around the room, suggesting that the three-time world champion has moved on from the swearing controversy from a month ago.
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There may have been a truce behind closed doors between Verstappen and the FIA after the governing body’s ‘community service’ penalty to the Dutchman invited a whole lot of criticism.
Many F1 pundits questioned why drivers were being restricted so much for swearing and defended Verstappen, as he hadn’t used expletive language against any person or team.
Verstappen’s swearing saga
The Red Bull driver boycotted the press conferences because he did not wish to invite further trouble for saying anything inappropriate, per the FIA’s swearing clampdown. While it was a one-off trivial moment of using the F-word to describe his car’s state, the FIA’s penalty to him was arguably an overreaction.
This was the consensus from many journalists and drivers who supported Verstappen throughout the weekend. Moreover, the Dutchman’s peers enjoyed him being monosyllabic during his responses at the Marina Bay Circuit. The 27-year-old’s former rival Lewis Hamilton stated how the entire swearing saga did not make sense to him.
Moreover, Hamilton also stated that he wouldn’t serve a penalty of community service and urged Verstappen to not do it. The Mercedes driver also gave strong views about President Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s comments against drivers using expletive language.
Sulayem gave a controversial analogy about swearing in F1 with rappers’ use of swear words in their music. Hamilton condemned this as “stereotypical”.
At Austin, however, all seemed forgotten. Verstappen went back to giving answers normally (without the usage of cuss words) and the press conferences took place without any issues.
