Red Bull driver considers FIA decision-making’really tiresome’
Hamilton and Russell were treated for ‘borderline heatstroke’. Max Verstappen has threatened to leave Formula One due to his dissatisfaction with how the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is running the sport and what he calls the governing body’s “silly” insistence on pursuing issues such as drivers swearing, for which he was punished at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen finished second to McLaren’s Lando Norris at the Marina Bay track on Sunday, reducing the world champion’s advantage to 52 points. Afterwards, Verstappen launched a broadside at the FIA after he was issued a community service sentence for swearing in the pre-race press conference on Thursday.
He described his car as “fucked”. Verstappen had already expressed his disappointment with their decision, and when asked after the race if such minor disagreements with the governing body would have an impact on his future in the sport, the 26-year-old was adamant. “For sure,” he said. “I mean, these are the things that will undoubtedly shape my future. When you can’t be yourself, you have to cope with these absurd situations. I’m at a point in my job where I don’t want to deal with this all the time. It’s quite tiring.”
Before the weekend began, the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, made his views known, stressing that he did not want drivers to swear, comparing it unfavorably.
to rap artists. Lewis Hamilton regarded this comment as inspired by racial prejudice and stereotyping. Norris and Verstappen were among the drivers that felt Ben Sulayem didn’t need to pursue such a minor issue. Verstappen was punished with a day’s community work after swearing in a news conference the next day. He then reacted by attending the post-qualifying FIA press conference on Saturday and answering to all of the questions with monosyllabic responses, instead offering to speak with journalists in full outside of the FIA session, which he duly did in the paddock.
Following Sunday’s race, Verstappen maintained his go-slow in the press conference, once again answering with the bare minimum.
of engagement required and once more speaking to journalists in full when it had finished. He said that, despite his success, with three titles and a chance of a fourth this year, the FIA was sucking the joy out of racing for him. “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,” he said. “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.”
Hamilton, who was sixth in Singapore, had dismissed the FIA’s position as “a joke” and suggested Verstappen should not take part in his punishment, insisting he would not do so had it been handed to him. The FIA has yet to make any comment on Verstappen’s comments or his stance in the press conference and the Dutchman questioned whether they would even pay any attention to the risk of losing a world champion from the sport prematurely. “I don’t know how seriously they will take that kind of stuff but for me, at one point, when it’s enough, it’s enough,” he said. “We’ll see. Everything will go on, I have no doubt. It’s not a problem because Formula One will go on without me, but it’s also not a problem for me. So it’s how it is.”
Following the race, Mercedes drivers Hamilton and George Russell, who finished fourth, withdrew from media obligations due to what the team termed as “borderline heatstroke.”
The 62-lap race in Singapore is one of the most difficult on the schedule, with 19 turns completed in extreme heat and humidity. The track temperature on Sunday was 37 degrees Celsius, and for the first time in the race’s history, there was no reprieve from a safety car deployment. Both drivers were deemed unwell following the race and underwent medical treatment.
Toto Wolff, the team principal, stated, “They did not feel well, borderline heatstroke or something, but they had water. They wouldn’t have been able to access the [media] pen.
There were no negative feelings or annoyance. It’s simply that we had the doctors with us. But they’re all good.”
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