F1’s most notorious foul mouth has his say on FIA swearing controversy

Guenther Steiner has disagreed with the decision to punish Max Verstappen for swearing.

The Red Bull driver was hit with a community service penalty after describing his RB20 at “f*****” in a press conference in Singapore.

Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris disputed the FIA’s decision to penalise Verstappen, who staged his own protests to make his annoyance clear.

Ex-Haas team principal Steiner was previously the most notorious foul mouth in F1.

His swearing became iconic during Netflix’s Drive To Survive.

But he told Red Flags podcast: “You have never heard me cursing in a press conference, or anything like this.”

But he stuck up for Verstappen.

“I don’t think it’s exaggerated, what was done. Max explained the situation about his car, not about a person,” Steiner said.

“Are there other words he could have chosen? Yes.

“He said terminology which is used a lot. Yes.

“Maybe it isn’t right. But is it wrong? Maybe also not.

“I am very much on the fence here.

“In the race, on the radio, I can fully understand it because the adrenaline is high.

“What you say there, you don’t mean it. You don’t take it home with you.

“F1 is very good at bleeping it out. They bleep out two words…

“I don’t think it was necessary to make such a big thing out of it.”

Steiner remembered another FIA directive to punish F1 drivers who wore jewellery inside the paddock, which irked Hamilton.

“For me, it’s very similar with the jewellery,” Steiner remembered.

“We are in 2024. That is what I try to recognise. Somebody wearing an earring? Could I care less?”