Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton lead backlash in Formula One bad language row

Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez after the Formula One Italy Grand Prix. Photo / Getty Images

Max Verstappen has said Formula One should not air team radio if the sport was concerned about bad language after the head of the governing FIA compared drivers to foul-mouthed rappers.

The Formula One chief also came under fire from Lewis Hamilton, who claimed there was a “racial element” to his comments.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem told motorsport.com that the FIA had asked Formula One Management to minimise the amount of swearing on television.

“We’re not rappers, you know,” the FIA president was quoted as saying. “They say the F-word how many times per minute? We are not on that.

“Imagine you are sitting with your children and watching the race and then someone is saying all of this dirty language. I mean, what would your children or grandchildren say? What would you teach them if that is your sport?”

Verstappen, asked about the comments moments after swearing in a FIA press conference at the Singapore Grand Prix to describe the state of his car, suggested the governing body was going too far.

Red Bull’s triple world champion and current championship leader said: “Everyone swears, some people a bit more than others. It also depends a bit what language you speak.

“Of course, abuse is something else but I think a lot of things get broadcast nowadays where in other sports you don’t run around with a mic attached to you.

“A lot of people say a lot of bad things when they are full of adrenaline in other sports, it just doesn’t get picked up. Where here, probably also for entertainment purposes, things get sent out,” he added.

“It’s just probably a bit the world that we live in. I think it already just starts with not broadcasting it or not giving the option for people to hear it.

“Of course, there are a lot of apps where people can listen to radios and stuff. You have to probably limit it, or have a bit of a delay, that you can censor out a few things. That will help a lot more than putting bans on drivers.”

Formula One already beeps out bad language on the global television feed, with some drivers in the past also deliberately swearing in radio exchanges with the pit wall to prevent information being broadcast more widely.

Verstappen suggested the FIA are fighting a losing battle. “Excuse me for the language but like, what are we? Five-year-olds? Six-year-olds?” he asked.

“Even if a five-year-old or six-year-old is watching, I mean, they will eventually swear anyway. Even if the parents won’t, or they will not allow it, when they grow up they will walk around with their friends, and they will be swearing.”

Hamilton was also unimpressed. “With what he [Ben Sulayem] said, I don’t like how he has expressed it. Saying ‘rappers’, is very stereotypical,” he said.

“If you think about it, most rappers are black, so, it says ‘we are not like them’. So I think those are the wrong choice of words and there is a racial element there.”