Guenther Steiner’s FIA swearing saga verdict after drivers’ group chat boss reports him | F1 | Sport

Guenther Steiner has offered his thoughts on the debate over drivers’ swearing after Max Verstappen was punished at the Singapore Grand Prix, suggesting the FIA’s campaign against offensive language is a push too far.

Verstappen used an expletive during Thursday’s FIA press conference in Singapore, earning him a visit to the stewards and eventually a community service ban. This sparked intense debate in the paddock and added fuel to the fire after Mohammed Ben Sulayem declared war on drivers’ language before the race.

Offering his thoughts on the debate, Steiner said Esporte Expresso: “As long as you don’t insult people at a press conference… what Max did, he judged a car, not a person. And I think my way of dealing with it would have been different.

“I would have sat the drivers down and said ‘Guys, can we tone it down a bit?’. At a press conference, at an official conference, you have a lot of people. If you’re doing it in a race, I’m not saying it’s okay, but it’s okay because running is exciting.

“I mean, going 250 ks (kilometers per hour) and then someone cuts you off… I mean, how many people wouldn’t be upset if you were driving down the road and someone cut you off? We all have words for it.

“So I think the words that are used in F1, I mean, if they say ‘Well, kids listen…’, I think kids know those words anyway. You know, it’s not like they’re not watching the internet.

“So I’m not advertising to do this anymore, but it’s nothing that we can suddenly say ‘No one should be saying that’ because it’s become quite common to say these things. It is true? Maybe not. Is it wrong? Maybe not.

The former Haas boss found himself at the center of the discourse in Singapore after Alex Wurz, president of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, brought to light the double standards in the way Steiner’s swearing was perceived in relation to that of Verstappen.

“How much lifetime community service would Guenther Steiner have to serve for using the F-word?” Wurz said in an interview with Formel1.de. “He was glorified for using the F-word. Netflix broadcasts it all over the world, no problem.

“But then suddenly change like that? (The choice of words) is not to my personal taste as a driver. As president of the GPDA, I must say officially that we will, of course, discuss the matter internally, we will first reach a full consensus and then we will consider whether and in what way we will talk to the FIA ​​and the president.”