FIA Could Face Protest From F1 Drivers After Max Verstappen’s ‘Silly’ Punishment

Max Verstappen’s recent punishment by the FIA could lead to a formal protest from the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, often referred to as the GPDA. The incident took palce after the three-time champion used the F-word during Thursday’s press conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, leading the FIA to penalize him with one day of community service.

The Red Bull driver was quick to voice his frustrations with the punishment whilst speaking to the media outside of the Saturday press conference, during which he made sure to only give very short answers. He commented:

“For sure. Yeah. I mean, these kinds of things definitely decide my future as well.

“When you can’t be yourself, you have to deal with these kinds of silly things…I think now, I’m at a stage of my career that I 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.

“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.”

This reaction was echoed within the GPDA, where several drivers reportedly laughed at the ruling in a WhatsApp group. Verstappen confirmed the mocking response from the rest of the grid:

“Yeah, for sure. Of course, I wrote in the GPDA [chat] the ruling, and everyone was almost laughing like, ‘what the hell is that’ basically. So, yeah, it is very, very silly.”

The GPDA, under the leadership of Chairman Alex Wurz, has expressed its intent to formally address the matter with the FIA. Wurz criticized the inconsistency in the FIA’s handling of swearing, pointing out that figures like Guenther Steiner have used expletives publicly without similar repercussions. He explained:

“How many lifetime community services would Guenther Steiner have to serve for using the F-word?

“He was glorified for using the F-word.

“Netflix broadcast this worldwide, no problem. But then to suddenly change like that?

“I have to say: [the choice of words] is not my personal taste as a driver. As GPDA chairman, I have to officially say that we will, of course, discuss it internally, first reach a full consensus, and then we will consider whether and in what form we will talk to the FIA and the president.”

He added:

“Personally, I always believe, and we also do this at the GPDA: we solve it internally.

“We don’t go through the media.

“Very rarely does something go from the GPDA to the media because we simply try to solve things internally for the sake of the sport and want to bring the people and the individual key stakeholders on our journey together.

“I think drivers have to be allowed to express themselves authentically to some extent. Of course, it shouldn’t be personally offensive, and it shouldn’t be discriminatory either. They’ve all come a long way in that regard. So, for me personally, the penalty is too severe.”