Peter Windsor reveals what former FIA boss told him about drivers swearing after Max Verstappen saga

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A row erupted over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend between FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and Max Verstappen.

Ben Sulayem said F1 must “differentiate between motorsport and rap music” in a bid to crack down on the use of foul language on TV broadcasts, due to the influence it could have on online abuse.

When asked about the changes, Max Verstappen initially said that it would make ‘no difference’ to the way drivers communicate over team radio to their teams. He later spoke about the state of his car in Azerbaijan and used an expletive, which was investigated by the stewards.

They subsequently issued him with a penalty which involved an “obligation to accomplish some work of public interest” for his remarks.

Verstappen retaliated by electing not to speak in official FIA press conferences for the rest of the weekend, instead holding his own media conference outside of the media room.

The row ignited further questions over whether it is right for the FIA to censor drivers, with Peter Windsor recalling when he first brought it up with the FIA and what they told him on the Cameron Cc podcast.

Bernie Ecclestone told FIA to ignore drivers swearing in media

Before Liberty Media and Ben Sulayem were in charge of F1 and the FIA, former supremo Bernie Ecclestone was the chief executive between the early 1990s and up to 2017.

Before taking over F1, Ecclestone owned by Brabham team and employed many of the mechanics who ended up working for the FIA under former President Max Mosley.

One of those was Herbie Blash, who worked as the deputy race director at all Grands Prix alongside the late race director Charlie Whiting. Windsor recalls what Blash once said to him when he raised the issue of another driver using profanities in an interview on radio.

“I remember the first driver I heard using a word like that was on live radio and it was Ralf Schumacher,” said Windsor.

“I talked to Herbie Blash about it and said ‘I hope you guys are going to do something about this because it will get out of control if you don’t’ and he just laughed and said ‘No, Bernie thinks it’s brilliant!”

Martin Brundle thinks Max Verstappen is ‘wasting energy’ on FIA swearing row

Drivers are still allowed to swear over team radio when speaking to engineers, but the FIA wants them to use more mindful language.

Martin Brundle believes Verstappen is ‘wasting his energy’ on the whole situation, given that he is under pressure to defend his title from Lando Norris.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Verstappen is the first driver to be penalised under the new rules after the FIA warned teams in the aftermath of a sweary press conference during last year’s Las Vegas GP.

Both Toto Wolff and Frederic Vasseur were warned for using profanities in the press conference, although the FIA stopped short of issuing a penalty as they felt there was an element of provocation.