F1 bosses give ‘challenged your life’ defence as FIA swearing clampdown begins

James Vowles and Fred Vasseur offered a defence for the swearing F1 drivers do while in the cockpit, with Vowles saying an “emotional reaction” is expected behind the wheel.

Max Verstappen was punished under the bracket of misconduct after swearing during the Thursday press conference in Singapore, with the FIA ordering him to carry out “some work of public interest” after finding him to breach their rules surrounding misconduct.

F1 team bosses respond to tighter misconduct rules in wake of Max Verstappen punishment

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has sought to reduce the amount of foul language broadcast on team radio messages, looking to the drivers to keep their words clean during races – though offensive messages are already censored on the global feed while races are being shown live.

When the topic was brought up in the team principals’ press conference at Marina Bay, the Ferrari and Williams bosses defended the drivers’ words while they were behind the wheel, acknowledging the position they found themselves.

“First, I’m not sure that I’m the best reference to speak about it,” Vasseur said in Singapore with a laugh.

“I think we have to make a difference on the language during the race, because I think we are one of the only sports where…you don’t have the microphone on the football player or whatever. I don’t want to say the football player as a reference, but we have to understand also that they are driving the car at 350 [km/h] and I’m not sure that the language is the first priority for them when they are driving the car.

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“And this, I can perfectly understand that. We can discuss about the other approach and, again, I won’t do it for obvious reasons, but I think when they are in the car, it’s a bit harsh.”

Williams team principal Vowles added: “I think Fred’s right. I mean, when you’re actually out there in the moment, and even at a point where you think someone has challenged your life, which is often some of the manoeuvres that end up being – all of you, everyone in this room, would have an emotional reaction to that.

“There were two differences to it. Clearly, I understand we’re a world sport, and there’s other elements that we have to remain under control, and there are other situations where perhaps language has been used on the slowdown lap in a stationary pit lane that can absolutely be avoided.

“But we have to also try and keep in mind that we have some of the most elite athletes in the world putting their life on the line as gladiators, and that will cause an emotional reaction.

“And as many words as I can use with them here in the calm of the moment, you’ve still got adrenaline through the body, and it would be very difficult to change that period.

“I mean, Franco [Colapinto] swore today, if I’m completely transparent, but I’ll have a chat with him later about that.

“That wasn’t for any other reason than he forgot something. That, we can clean up.

“But I think, in the heat of the moment, we’re asking a lot of athletes.”

Read next: Max Verstappen has ‘no words’ for FIA punishment over misconduct infringement

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