Vexed Verstappen swears he is close to pulling the plug

Away from the sweat-inducing action on track, it was a tempestuous Formula One weekend in Singapore.

- KIERAN JACKSON

At the centre of it all was Max Verstappen, the championship leader on the cusp of four straight world titles. Yet for an athlete whose dominance in recent years has been so mighty, he remains distinctly vexed on a regular basis by the sport he loves.

To summarise, in Thursday’s FIA press conference, the plainspoken Dutchman described his Red Bull car in the last race in Baku as “fucked” He was then called to see the stewards and, effectively, was handed a punishment in the form of community service, the precise nature of which is unknown.

In protest, Verstappen gave short, apathetic answers in FIA press conferences following qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday – where he finished second – before sharing his true thoughts with the written media in an informal paddock huddle. For a professional sport, the whole scenario was borderline farcical.

In separate comments last week, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem stated F1 broadcasts were airing too much swearing from drivers in the cockpit. The phrasing used – comparing drivers to rappers – was rightly criticised for racial undertones by Lewis Hamilton.

There are two different issues at play here. Ben Sulayem opined that the regular race broadcast is unacceptable for younger viewers, given the frustrations of drivers are played out on team radio for the wider world to hear (though swear words are bleeped out). And he’s right, with Verstappen often the chief culprit.

But expecting athletes, while driving at 220mph in intense conditions, to curb their language in the heat of the moment is unrealistic. Further, most viewers want to see the raw emotion and reaction; it humanises these athletes behind the helmet and presents a point of difference to other sports where on-field audio is not aired. For Formula One Management – which controls the world TV feed – it is a somewhat unsolvable problem.