Max Verstappen has been punished by Formula One’s governing body for swearing in the immediate aftermath of a backlash by the world champion and other drivers against the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, and his demand that drivers cease to use bad language. It is a dispute Verstappen is expected to vigorously return to as this weekend’s meeting in Singapore progresses.
Early this week Ben Sulayem had said: “We have to differentiate between our sport – motorsport – and rap music. We’re not rappers, you know. They say the f-word how many times per minute? We are not on that. That’s them and we are [us]”.
