BROWN BACKS VERSTAPPPEN AFTER CONTROVERSIAL FIA DECISION

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has asserted it is up to the F1 television production to filter out remarks containing swear words rather than the drivers to tone down their language.

Last year, Max Verstappen was handed a community service obligation for swearing during an official FIA press conference.

The penalty came shortly after FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem outlined he wanted to see drivers eliminate swearing from their vocabulary altogether.

"A public letter from the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to Ben Sulayem last year outlined the difference between swearing to insult others and as part of a casual conversation.

Speaking on the James Allen on F1 podcast, Brown highlighted he does not see the need for swearing in a press conference.

“The swearing I agree with in certain circumstances, meaning in a press conference where everything is quite chilled out, there's no emotion involved, there's no reason to swear,” he said.

“You don't see Michael Jordan in the NBA - I know I'm dating myself because he's not played for a while - but you don’t see athletes or managers in press conferences just dropping F-bombs.

“I think that's inappropriate and we should set a good example.”

 - Fergal Walsh

F1 PRESIDENT BLASTS F1 DRIVERS AS RACE FINES ROW ESCALATES

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has told Formula 1 drivers to mind their own business after they asked where money from race fines was going and why senior figures had left the governing body.

In an interview with Reuters ahead of Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix, the president suggested the drivers should stick to what they know best.

"Do we have to tell them? When something in the teams changes, do they tell us?," Ben Sulayem said when asked about the surprise departure of race director Niels Wittich before last weekend's title-deciding Las Vegas Grand Prix.

"We have the rules, we follow our rules. We don't follow someone else's rule. Simple as this."

Wittich has said he did not resign and the FIA have given no public explanation as to why he suddenly left beyond saying it was to pursue new opportunities. Media reports have said he was sacked.

Leading steward Tim Mayer, the son of former McLaren boss Teddy, and Formula 2 race director Janette Tan have also left.

Mercedes driver George Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), said on Thursday drivers wanted clarity and understanding "of what's going on and who's getting fired next."

Ben Sulayem, a former rally driver who was elected as FIA head in 2021, responded by saying: "Do we tell them how to drive? Do we tell them what to have as their strategy?

 

Mohammed Ben Sulayem was elected as the FIA president in 2021. Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

"It's none of their business. Sorry ... I am a driver. I respect the drivers. Let them go and concentrate on what they do best, which is race."

The GPDA issued a remarkable statement last month, in response to an FIA clampdown on swearing, in which they asked Ben Sulayem to treat them like adults and mind his own language towards them.

They also requested financial transparency and said all stakeholders, including drivers and teams, should jointly determine how and where the money from fines was spent -- with some suggesting it could help fund professional stewards.

"They talk and then they say, where are you putting the money? Why we don't do this? I don't say 'Oh, sorry, what about you?'," Ben Sulayem said.

"The drivers are getting over 100 million. Do I ask where they spend it? No. It's up to them. It's their right ... We do whatever we do with the money. It's our business. It's also with them and their money. It's their business."

Ben Sulayem said the drivers had his mobile number and he had nothing to hide.

- Reuters 

U.S. GP: MAX VERSTAPPEN TO CONTINUE FIA PRESSER PROTEST

Max Verstappen said he has not heard from the FIA in three weeks, since the Singapore Grand Prix. Peter Fox - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

AUSTIN -- Max Verstappen hinted his protest over FIA news conferences will continue at the U.S. Grand Prix after not hearing from the governing body in the three weeks since the last race.

Verstappen, F1's reigning champion, was given the FIA's version of community service after he said the word "f---ed" at a news conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

After qualifying at the same event, Verstappen refused to answer questions in the official FIA media conference which followed, instead holding an impromptu media session with journalists in the paddock immediately afterwards.

Verstappen was not scheduled in the FIA news conference on Thursday in Austin, meaning he was talking in a session hosted by Red Bull outside the team's hospitality unit.

"I haven't heard anything," Verstappen said when asked if he would continue the protest. "So... yeah. For me, it doesn't really change anything."

Referring to the setting he was talking in, he added: "I will speak ... This table works well."

The only remaining FIA driver news conferences remaining this week are for the top three after qualifying on Saturday and the grand prix on Sunday.

Verstappen, who labelled the original decision "ridiculous" in Singapore, said it was wrong for the governing body to have suggested him swearing in a news conference would influence young kids to the same.

"I think already the world we live in, right? A lot of stuff is like that. I think this particular scenario, yes, I think is very unnecessary. Of course I know that you can't generally swear in context, but I think that's more related to when you insult someone and then you hear comments, but you don't want kids seeing that.

"Well, when I was five years old, I never watched a press conference in my life anyway, and I think at school you've said way worse things than that, because you grow up with kids. You're a bit of a rebel. You always say bad stuff. That's just how life is. You want to set an example, yeah, sure. But I don't think that they should make such a big deal out of it."

He added: "I'm not aggressive or whatever. Like I said, I'm just living my life, and when I don't agree with something, I'll say it."

There was a break of three full weeks without a race between Singapore and the U.S. race, but there was no contact in that time.

Asked if FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem had reached out to him since then, Verstappen said: "No.

"I'm always open for a chat. But from my side at the moment, it's not that I am the one who has to reach out with this stuff. I just live my life and continue. Nothing changes."

He reiterated later: "I've not talked to the FIA about it."

The FIA has not yet clarified when or what Verstappen's community service will be.

George Russell, head of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, has confirmed the drivers will write a letter to the FIA over the issue.

- Nate Saunders, General Editor, F1

FIA CHIEF STEVE NIELSEN QUITS AFTER LESS THAN A YEAR

Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

FIA sporting director Steve Nielsen has quit his role with racing's governing body after less than a year in the position.

Nielsen was appointed in January to oversee and improve the FIA's race control operations.

His move from F1 to the FIA followed a series of controversial decisions, most notably the Michael Masi mistake which impacted the end of the 2021 championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Within F1 Nielsen's appointment, which saw him work closely with race director Niels Wittich, was seen as a good step to rebuilding trust in the governing body.

As recently as August, Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) head George Russell described Nielsen as "a really great addition" to the process, but the championship now enters the new year with a void in that position.

According to a report by the BBC, Nielsen stepped away because he did not feel the FIA is willing to make the changes he felt need to be implemented.