Guenther Steiner weighs in on FIA swearing ‘warpath’ after Max Verstappen punishment

Guenther Steiner believes it wasn’t “necessary” for the FIA to make “such a big thing” out of Max Verstappen swearing in a press conference after the Red Bull driver was punished at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen was sanctioned for swearing in an FIA press conference on the eve of the Singapore Grand Prix, with F1’s governing body ordering him to “undertake some work of public interest.”

Guenther Steiner reacts to Max Verstappen, FIA swearing row

It came after FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem called for a clampdown on drivers using foul language, insisting “we have to differentiate between our sport and rap music.”

Verstappen responded to his penalty by keeping his answers short in the post-qualifying and post-race FIA press conferences later that weekend, with his stance backed by his fellow competitors, including Lewis Hamilton , who encouraged the Red Bull driver to ignore his punishment.

The reigning World Champion was also supported by former F1 driver Alex Wurz, the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, who highlighted that Steiner was “glorified” by fans for his colourful language on Drive to Survive, Netflix’s highly acclaimed F1 docuseries, during his stint as Haas team principal.

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Wurz told Austrian outlet ORF : “One of the questions that comes to mind most often is: How many lifetimes would Guenther Steiner have to do community service, and he was glorified with his F-word in Netflix which is broadcast worldwide?

“So in that respect, you ask yourself, what is really the message, what is behind it? And that is simply too harsh a punishment.”

The former Williams and McLaren driver went on to claim the FIA had “overdone it” by punishing Verstappen with the case “not carried out correctly.”

Appearing on the Red Flags podcast, Steiner described Ben Sulayem’s crusade against swearing as a “warpath” – and he likened it to the FIA’s unpopular clampdown on drivers wearing jewellery during the 2022 season.

He said: “First of all, you have never heard me cursing in a press conference or anything like this.

“I don’t have feelings about [Ben Sulayem], to be honest.

“I don’t think it’s exaggerated, what [Verstappen has] done. I think when Max did it in a press conference, he explained the situation about his car, not about a person.

“Is there other words he could have chosen? Yes, he could. He said that a terminology which is used a lot. Is it right? Maybe it isn’t right, but is it wrong? Maybe also not. I’m very much on the fence here.

“In the race, when they are over the radio, I can fully understand [swearing] because the adrenaline must be high.

“You see where you are at. Somebody does something stupid, obviously you have a go at it, but what you say there, you don’t mean it. You don’t take that home with you.

“You say it and I think FOM is very good at bleeping it out. When they’re bleeping out, people obviously know what the guy said.

“They’re bleeping out two words normally – one with ‘s’ and one with ‘f’, so there’s no secret in that one. They are not beeping out anything else.

“I don’t think it was necessary to make such a big thing out of it.

“For me, it’s very similar to two years ago [with the crusade over] jewellery.

“We are in 2024. That is what I try to recognise. Somebody wearing an earring: could I care less?”

Steiner’s comments come after seven-time World Champion and Mercedes driver Hamilton took issue with the wording of Ben Sulayem’s original remarks, claiming his comparison between F1 drivers and rap music artists contained “a racial element.”

He said: “I’m sure if you say there’s penalties for it, people will stop it.

“I don’t know whether that’s something that’s needed, but I definitely think there is a little bit too much of it.

“And then just with what he said, I don’t like how he’s expressed it.

“Saying that, rappers, is very stereotypical. And think about most rappers are black, so that really kind of points it towards and it says we’re not like them.

“So I think those are the wrong choice of words and there’s a racial element there, but I agree with the fact that I think [it needs] cleaning up a little bit.”

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