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Max Verstappen's dispute with the FIA continued into the F1 US GP race weekend, as the Dutch driver shared that the governing body had made no attempt to reach out to him. The controversy erupted in the last race in Singapore where the drivers were formally informed not to use inappropriate language during press conferences and on the team radio.
During the Thursday press conference in Singapore, Verstappen was talking about his car's performance in Baku and used the F-word to describe it. The Dutch driver was later summoned by the stewards for his remarks and penalized. The Red Bull driver is supposed to carry out community service.
The Red Bull driver was furious at the situation and kept his words to a minimum while addressing the media during the official press conference in Singapore. He did speak to the media at length outside the press conference.
As it turns out, the governing body has still not reached out to the driver regarding the ruling and the reigning champion has made it clear that he would continue to give limited answers in the press conferences.
Talking to the media, including Sportskeeda, Verstappen said,
"I haven’t heard anything (from the FIA), so for me it doesn’t change anything. I prefer of course to talk less, so it’s fine anyway for me."
He was also asked if he would be open to talking with the head of the FIA on this matter. The Dutchman replied,
"I am always open for a chat. But from my side it is not that I am the one who has to reach out. I just live my life. I just continue, nothing changes. This particular scenario, yes, it's very unnecessary. Of course I know you can't generally swear but it's more about when you insult someone."
These comments came in a session outside the Red Bull hospitality at COTA in Austin, Texas.
Max Verstappen scoffs at the idea of kids being affected by the language in a press conference
Max Verstappen also addressed the comments made by Johnny Herbert, who was one of the stewards that penalized him, who said that a 5-year-old kid watching the sport should not be listening to such language. The Red Bull driver said the authorities shouldn't "make a big deal" of his swearing.
Verstappen said,
"Then you hear comments like, 'Yeah but you don’t want kids seeing that.' But when I was five years old, I never watched a press conference in my life anyway. And at school you hear way worse things than that. Because you grow up with kids and you’re a bit of a rebel, so you always say bad stuff. That’s just how life is. They want you to set an example. Yeah, sure. I don't think they should make such a big deal about it."
In this case, it's yet to see what the next course of action will be for Max Verstappen. It does appear that the ball is in the FIA's court, as it has once again fluffed the execution of something that could have been a positive step.
