F1 drivers and team bosses opine on the FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem say against swearing on radio with request of a tone down scene.
Between the races in Azerbaijan and Singapore, the FIA President Sulayem highlighted about F1 drivers swearing on the radio, which he feels, should be toned down. He exampled rappers in the case, noting that racing drivers are not them who would swear at every sentence.
This did not set too right with the F1 drivers and team bosses, who feel that the FIA and or FOM can simply not play those audios if it is not friendly even for TV broadcast. Some reckon the idea of beeping is enough for ‘heat of the moment’ radio messages.
The topic generated laughs in the driver Whatsapp group as revealed by GPDA director Alexander Wurz. It gained further momentum when Max Verstappen was handed a community service for using the ‘F-word’ when describing his car’s performance in the Azerbaijan GP weekend.
This led to Verstappen unofficially boycotting the official FIA Press conference. He first did it on Saturday, after which he held a mini session outside the box, and he continued the same on Sunday. F1 drivers and team bosses have varied opinion on the topic.
Here’s whole lot of F1 drivers and teams on the matter –
Max Verstappen: “I think you will swear anyway. if it’s not in this room maybe somewhere else. Everyone swears. Some people a bit more than others. It also depends a bit what language you speak. Of course, abuse is something else. I think a lot of things get broadcast nowadays where in other sports you don’t run around with a mic attached to you. I think 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, you know, things get sent out and that’s where people can pick up on it, discuss it on social media and you get all sorts of trouble. So I think it already just starts with not broadcasting it. I mean, if you don’t broadcast it, no one will know. Only the team, but with that you deal internally with these kind of things. But yeah, it’s just probably a bit the world that we live in, within the sport but also in general it seems like people are a bit more sensitive to stuff.
“Yeah, that’s how it goes. I guess the world is changing a bit, but I think it already just starts with not broadcasting it or not giving the option for people to hear it in general. 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 because for example I couldn’t even say the f-word. i mean it’s not even that bad right? I mean the car was not working, the car is f-ed, yeah. And then, excuse me for the language but come on, what are we? Five-year-olds six-year-olds? Even if a five-year-old or six-year-old is watching I mean they will eventually swear anyway even if their 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. So you know this is not changing anything.”
Yuki Tsunoda: “Yeah, I think definitely sensitive. I mean, because probably we have radio systems, so that’s why the broadcasters, you know, they get to accidentally maybe show the swear words in the TV. But I’m sure if you mic’d up in every other sports, you know, football, if you mic’d up every players or, you know, basketball, whatever, they’re all swearing, I guess, so… I mean, just because there’s radio and things, that’s why…I mean, it’s part of the… I wouldn’t say personality, but, like, just the things, and… Obviously, there’s certain words that obviously will go above the limit. It happens to me this year, but yeah, it’s just like f-words or whatever. It’s just part of the part of the world that you express the feeling. So, I mean, I don’t I don’t see why there’s an issue.
“And yeah, it’s just I’m sure those even FIA people they swear sometimes. My language is okay? Probably, I was not energetic enough to swear the words, it was pretty tough in the car, but maybe I’ve become a nicer person, probably. I am surprised I didn’t swear. The main focus is not swearing in the car, but anywhere, it is not just about the FIA, it is in general. It is pretty sensitive and something that I have to improve, I am happy that I didn’t swear. It is pretty sensitive, it is not the swear that is bad but it was more like that he [Verstappen] meant the car was bad, [but I was] pretty surprised [Verstappen got a penalty].”
Lando Norris: “I mean, they can just not play the radios, so it’s quite simple from their side. We’re the guys in the heat of the moment, under stress, under pressure, fighting, having big crashes — it’s a lot easier for them to say than for us to do because we’re out there putting our hearts on the line trying to race people and we’re giving it our all. Our heart rates are so high, we’re just putting our passion and our love into it. Of course there’s going to be some bad words on the other side of it, but that’s just because we’re trying and we’re wanting to give our best, and we feel hard done by when things don’t go right, and if it’s because of excitement that’s because we’re happy for what goes into it. But I’m sure you have it in every other sport, it’s just that it’s not always recorded and things like that. They have the option to delete it or not play it, but that’s more for them to do rather than for us to stop because we’re the ones in the position of being under pressure, being stressed and trying to get our points across to our team, that kind of thing.
“But this language is also used as emphasis on certain points — it’s not because you want it to be directly against someone and be aggressive towards someone, it’s just a general feeling that you’re having. And if the team know you’re meaning it as much as you’re meaning it, then it has a bigger impact than just saying, ‘I’m not very happy,’ because they can easily take that as a minute thing. So I think that’s more on the FIA’s part rather than our part to change. They have the choice. They get all the radio and they have the choice to just press ‘go out to public’ or not. You obviously have kids listening and younger people, and from that side you don’t want it to go out, but honestly I just think it’s the passion of the sport and it’s the passion of us wanting to go out and perform our best in a very tough sport.
“So I definitely don’t think it should be banned. I think maybe if parents know they can pick between a bleeped-out version and a non-bleeped-out version, same with a lot of other movies and things like that. But I don’t think it should be banned, I think you’re just listening to the rawness of drivers and their thoughts and their feelings and things like that. When I listen to it I find it cool and I find it exciting when you listen to these kind of things, and it’s not just nice, gentle, soft language that people are using. So I’m sure there’s plenty of other sports you can watch if that’s what you want to hear.”
Sergio Perez: “I have seen some stuff but I am not sure if there’s a rule or I don’t what it is exactly, to be honest. I don’t think many people in the heat of the moment will follow their suggestions. It’s a very funny sport. They put the microphone on your mouth… imagine in football, footballers after they kicked, but you have to control yourself. I think if they want to control that they should just delete the radio — take away the radio and give us the privacy.”
Lewis Hamilton: “I think there is two sides to it. On one side, when I was 22, I didn’t think of it as much. It was more your emotions just firing and you just saying whatever comes to mind, forgetting how many people are listening in, the kids that are listening, all those different things. So I agree in the sense that you listen to some of the other drivers and they just haven’t got it yet and at some stage, they probably will. I’m sure, if you had penalties for it, people will stop it. I don’t know whether that’s something which is needed but I definitely think there is too much of it. With what he said, I don’t like how he expressed it. Saying rappers is very stereotypical as most rappers are black. It really kind of points towards ‘we are not like them’, so I think those were the wrong choice of words and there’s a racial element there. But as I said, I agree things need clearing up a bit but it is also good to have some emotion as we are not robots, we are very-very happy and the opposite too.
“For me, the way I control is because I remember that there are over 2000 people that are working towards me, and me having this position, being where I am, there are a lot of followers f all ages. It’s not about me. And even though I’m having this experience on-track, what I do and what I say affects all those people who are sacrificing time with their families, who are giving absolutely everything to have this privileged position and opportunity. I think it’s just understanding that, and putting the aggression somewhere else. That’s what I try and do.”
Charles Leclerc: “I think there are other priorities for the FIA to look at, at the moment. We are adults at the end, and we are one of the only sports where we hear the driver speak during the actual race. I would return the favour to the FIA to ask them to maybe take out some of our bad words and not broadcast it as much. It is something quite easy to do. For us to control our words when you are driving a car at 300kph between walls on a street track, it is quite tricky. We are humans after all, so I don’t see it as much of a priority for now.”
George Russell: “I think we definitely don’t want to take that raw emotion away from the drivers. I think that’s key in our sport. Maybe in a press conference, there’s merit in saying we need to keep our words clean. But for sure, on the radio, you want to be able to express yourself as you deserve. I really don’t know, I don’t know what to even think of it.”
Frederic Vasseur: “First, I’m not sure that I’m the best reference to speak about it. And I think we have to make a difference on the language during the race. Because I think this is, we are one of the only sports where… You don’t have a 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 kph and I’m not sure that the language is the first priority for them when they are driving the car 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 into the car it’s a bit harsh.”
James Vowles: “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 manouevres there end up being, all of you, everyone in this room would have an emotional reaction to that. There are two differences to it. Clearly, I understand we’re a world sport and there’s elements that we have to remain under control. And there are other situations where perhaps language has been used on a slowdown lap or stationary in the 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 much words as I can use with them here in the calm of the moment, you’ve still got adrenaline flowing through the body, and it’d be very difficult to change that. I mean, Franco swore today, if I’m completely transparent, but we’ll have a chat with him later about that. That wasn’t for any other reason that he forgot something. That we can clean up. But I think in the heat of the moment, we’re asking a lot of athletes.”
Toto Wolff: “I was at the stewards last year after Las Vegas and it was quite an enjoyable experience. Fred and I were there at the same time. He was a bit more worried. I said to them it was the first time since school that I was called to the headmaster, and I promise you it is going to be the last time. Having said that, I think there is an argument that big swearing and being rude on the radio is not something that should happen. If it is so bad it is disrespectful, towards the other side of the line, there are people at home watching it, the family of the people that you know. Although the F-word is common language now but it is always the context that makes it. We want to have emotions, we want to have raw moments and we understand that the drivers are in a state of extremes.
“But if we can dim it down a little bit I think that is good for all of us, but I wouldn’t necessarily ban the F-word because I think there is worse than that. I don’t think anybody listens to the FIA press conference anyway. I mean, but it’s not written about or rarely. So I think there is, am I wrong saying that? I think there’s not a big audience. We are the group. We are all part of the travelling circus, we know each other and I don’t think that using the effort in a press conference is the worst thing. But OK if we need to adapt, all of us adapt our language, including team principals then we will look at it more. It is more civilised like this.”
Christian Horner: “I think Max has made his feelings clear on it. Of course, all these drivers are role models, but language that’s used in everyday life, I think it would have been perhaps better dealt with slightly differently. I suppose the difference is between a press conference and when in the car, but for a driver whose English is not native tongue, how many examples we’ve seen members of the royal family telling photographers to take a fucking photo. Reactions need to be relative.”
Andrea Stella: “This topic is more complicated for me than the rear wing. I think I would differentiate between the swearing in while the drivers are driving their car – they are under the pressure of the competition, under the pressure of delivering laps. But things don’t go to plan. I think there’s an emotional content, which we should accept that, sometimes, it comes out in the form of having a bad word here and there. I think the beeps, they sort of do the job from this point of view. When you are obviously outside the car, I think we all should make an attempt to be responsible and not forget that we are, as much as possible, role models.
“The popularity, the celebrity, it doesn’t only come with benefits – it comes with responsibilities, and we need to take any possible opportunity to pass good messages, healthy messages, because Formula 1 is so popular that you can influence a wide range of people. If we can influence, why not influence for the good? So I think even if a bad word could look like a small element, I think, if we don’t take this opportunity, it’s a missed opportunity to pass just even from the quality of the language, the respect in the language, the respect for competitors. So I think enforcing is a good thing. Ideally, all competitors enforce them for themselves because of their own policies or their own standards.”
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