Max Verstappen gives update on protest against FIA after swearing punishment
"At school you hear way worse things than that"
Max Verstappen insists he has still not communicated with the FIA after his punishment for swearing.
The Red Bull driver is set to continue his protest of delivering the bare-minimum in terms of answering questions in press conferences at this weekend’s F1 United States Grand Prix.
In Singapore, Verstappen described his RB20 as “f*****” and was hit with a community service punishment by the FIA for his foul language.
He reacted by refusing to answer properly at the next press conferences, and only speaking to journalists away from the official setting.
"I haven’t heard anything, so for me it doesn’t change anything,” Verstappen told the BBC in Texas.
"I prefer of course to talk less, so it’s fine anyway for me."
Verstappen clarified “I will speak” at official press conferences in Texas this weekend, but indicated that his protest against the FIA would continue.
He hinted that full and proper answers would be given to journalists outside of the press conferences.
Verstappen called this dispute with Formula 1’s governing body “silly”.
"I am always open for a chat,” he said. “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.”
Verstappen defended himself: “Of course I know you can't generally swear but it's more about when you insult someone.
"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 Singapore where Verstappen was penalised, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris backed him up.
Hamilton suggested that Verstappen should not go through with the punishment issued by the FIA.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
