Is punishment for cursing in F1 too harsh? Racing boss hints at adjustments

A standoff over cursing in Formula 1 may well be one step nearer to an answer.

Ahead of this week’s Miami Grand Prix, the president of Formula 1’s governing frame, the FIA, has signaled he’s going to make “improvements” to punishments for swearing and grievance, that have sparked a backlash from F1 drivers.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem posted on Instagram Monday that once “constructive feedback” from drivers around the quite a lot of occasions the FIA governs, “I am considering making improvements to Appendix B.”

That’s the record which lays out the punishments for a variety of offences, starting from bodily violence to political statements, the use of foul language and any feedback deemed to purpose “moral injury or loss” to FIA. The base high quality for an F1 driving force is about out at 40,000 euros ($45,500).

It’s now not transparent that cursing is extra not unusual in F1 than in different sports activities. With radio publicizes from the vehicles and digital camera crews all through the paddock, drivers are beneath extra surveillance than nearly another athletes.

“In other sports, you don’t run around with a mic attached to you,” Verstappen said last year. “I think a lot of people say a lot of bad things when they are full of adrenaline in other sports. It just doesn’t get picked up.”

Various drivers have also referred to as for a lenient solution to swearing out of frustration over the radio all through a race, if a non-English speaker makes use of a phrase with out being positive of its which means, or if drivers use an expletive to explain themselves or their very own automotive, now not folks.

Verstappen instructed it will have to be an issue for broadcasters, now not drivers. The four-time champion mentioned final 12 months that TV comprises drivers swearing “probably also for entertainment purposes,” adding: “I think it already just starts with not broadcasting it.”

Ben Sulayem has been looking for to crack down on cursing since final 12 months and punishments had been tightened for 2025 to permit for higher fines and suspensions for drivers who swear again and again.

From the beginning, his efforts have attracted controversy.

“We have to differentiate between our sport — motorsport — and rap music,” Ben Sulayem mentioned when he introduced his plans final 12 months in an interview with motorsport.com. “We’re not rappers, you know.”

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who’s Black, mentioned there was once a “racial element” to Ben Sulayem’s feedback.

The crackdown on swearing caused a backlash from F1 drivers when Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc had been punished final 12 months. Leclerc was once fined and Verstappen was once requested to make amends with group provider for describing his automotive with an expletive. Drivers within the World Rally Championship boycotted TV interviews final month after one in all them was once fined.

It’s now not with reference to profanity. After the final F1 race in Saudi Arabia, Verstappen refused to speak a couple of penalty which price him the lead as a result of, he instructed, any grievance risked breaking the FIA regulations.

“I do know that I will not swear in right here however on the identical time, you’ll additionally now not be essential,” he mentioned.

How do different sports activities handle cursing?

Approaches vary throughout sports activities and most often take the cases into consideration. Athletes who curse at a referee or a fan most often get harsher punishments.

When he was once despatched off for particular language whilst protesting a referee’s name in February, Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham sparked a debate on the place football will have to set the boundaries of what is applicable.

“Bellingham didn’t do anything that deserved a sending off,” his trainer Carlo Ancelotti mentioned. “He said ‘(expletive) off,’ not ’(expletive) you.’ I don’t think that was meant to be offensive.”

“Audible obscenity” regulations in tennis are one instance the place an athlete may well be fined for the use of an expletive about themselves or their recreation — very similar to one of the crucial incidents F1 drivers had been excited about.

Golf big name Tyrrell Hatton was once fined in November for cursing loudly and snapping a membership in a irritating second at the European excursion.

In the NBA, Minnesota Timberwolves big name Anthony Edwards were given a $100,000 high quality in December for profanities in a TV interview. The league mentioned the high quality was once higher as a result of Edwards’ historical past of equivalent incidents. He was once additionally fined $50,000 final week for the use of irrelevant language and an obscene gesture towards a spectator.

Much depends upon the substance of any adjustments Ben Sulayem introduces. So some distance, it sort of feels he is that specialize in how punishments paintings, now not converting the principles themselves.

There has already been one signal of a extra versatile way when Carlos Sainz, Jr. wasn’t fined for the use of an expletive in a information convention whilst he protested any other high quality for being past due for a countrywide anthem.

Ben Sulayem’s 4 years in administrative center had been marked via repeated confrontations with drivers and senior officers. A metamorphosis after all on cursing may imply much less rigidity forward of possible re-election later this 12 months.

“Humans make the rules and humans can improve the rules,” Ben Sulayem wrote Monday. “The principle of continuous improvement is something I have always believed in and is at the heart of all we do at the FIA.”