F1 to dilute FIA's intense new 'swearing ban'

Feb.19 (GMM) The FIA’s intensifying clampdown on driver swearing could be about to be diluted.

Dubbed the sport’s new ‘swearing ban’, Max Verstappen said on Tuesday he will cope with the harsh new restrictions – which can now include race bans or docked championship points – by “not saying much” in 2025.

“I didn’t say anything wrong, right?” Verstappen told the correspondent for Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper in London.

De Telegraaf, meanwhile, quoted the Dutchman as joking: “Maybe I should start swearing in Limburgish.”

In an interview with French-language Le Journal de Montreal, meanwhile, Lance Stroll was also asked what he thinks of the harsher swearing penalties.

“C’est de la putain de merde,” the French-Canadian responded in a phrase translating as “This is some f***ing sh*t”.

Indeed, most teams and even most of the drivers agree that while excessive swearing when talking to the media is inappropriate, the sport should not be policing what drivers say on the radio in the heat of the moment.

“Without giving away any spoilers, there was a debate in the F1 Commission this morning,” Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer told reporters in London.

“It’s interesting that we all agree that we want to keep those emotions. As teams and as the FIA, we need to come together. Overall, everything is going in the right direction, which is to preserve the emotions, but without making it too profane.

“I have every confidence that we will ultimately arrive on a good balance point. I think we will find a reasonable solution for the start of the season.”

It is believed the eventual outcome will be F1 ‘bleeping’ swearing on the radios whilst continuing to police the way drivers talk when outside the cockpit.