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Max Verstappen's recent actions, which led to punishment from the FIA in Singapore, have sparked significant debate. Former F1 driver Felipe Massa has come to Verstappen's defense, expressing that the punishment was unwarranted and the community service order was “not nice.” Massa is a former Sauber, Ferrari, and Williams driver.
The controversy began when Verstappen used profanity to describe his Red Bull RB20 during a Thursday press conference ahead of Singapore Grand Prix. This prompted FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to announce a stricter stance on swearing in Formula 1. As a result, Verstappen was the first driver to face repercussions, which included performing “some work of public interest,” essentially community service.
Verstappen responded to the ruling with noticeable frustration, keeping his comments brief in subsequent press conferences and holding independent media sessions. He even indicated that this situation might influence his thoughts about his future in Formula 1.
Massa stands firmly behind Verstappen, asserting that the driver did not overstep any boundaries with his remarks.
“In life, in sport, you have a limit for what you can say and in whatever situation. What happened to Max, he didn’t pass the limit.” Massa told RacingNews365.
Verstappen said “If you can’t really be yourself to the fullest, then it’s better not to speak. At the end of the day, that’s what no one wants because then you become a robot, and that’s not how you should be going about it in the sport.”
He referred to the situation as "supper silly".
“When you have some fights there are some words and whatever you know, even some bad words. Sometimes that is part of the sport. It’s part of the condition, the pressure, whenever things happen in a race. In football, you make a bad tackle on another player, if he has a microphone by his mouth, things will come out, and maybe not in a perfect way," Massa added.
“But what’s happening is too much, you know. The sport needs to have a way of [allowing] funny things, even crazy things which belong to the fights [on track]. You cannot really do that. It was not nice what happened to Max with this punishment that Max had, and whatever, you know, all the drivers can have so he’s not part of too much," he concluded.
Max even threatened to leave F1 due to a swearing saga.
“I don’t know how seriously they will take that kind of stuff but for me, at one point, when it’s enough, it’s enough. We’ll see. Everything will go on, I have no doubt. It’s not a problem because Formula One will go on without me, but it’s also not a problem for me. So it’s how it is," Max threatened.
Dutch Driver Max Verstappen is currently leading the 2024 Driver Standings with Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT. He has 331 points in the standings 52 points ahead of Mclaren's Lando Norris who is second while Charles Leclerc is third.
