Max Verstappen has a reputation for making off-colour remarks but Formula One Management appeared to censor one of his radio comments in error yesterday.
The Red Bull driver’s reaction to his five-second time penalty was censored in the live world television broadcast of yesterday’s race. However the original message appears to contain no profanity.
The FIA introduced regulations earlier this year which define swearing as a form of misconduct. However no driver has been penalised for swearing on their radio and Carlos Sainz Jnr avoided a penalty for using a swear word in a press conference earlier this month.
FOM replayed part of Verstappen’s exchange with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase on their television broadcast with one word censored (below). Footage from Verstappen’s onboard channel indicates he sarcastically called his penalty “really lovely.”
Verstappen often uses a similar expression, “simply lovely”, on his radio. He applied to trademark the phrase last year to use it in a line of fashion products.
However Verstappen has tended to use profanity more frequently on his radio than his rivals do, notably in last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem subsequently complained about drivers swearing on their radios, following which Verstappen said FOM should not broadcast it.
F1 has been criticised for allegedly misrepresenting drivers’ radio messages already this year. It denied intentionally omitting a key comment by Lewis Hamilton during the Chinese Grand Prix, which gave the impression he disobeyed an instruction from his team.
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FOM has been approached for comment.
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Verstappen’s radio on TV broadcast
| Lambiase | Information, you have been given a five-second time penalty for the incident at turn one. Head down. |
| Verstappen | Oh, that is… |
| Lambiase | Yeah, Max… |
| Verstappen | …[censored] lovely! |
| Lambiase | Yep. Yep. No comment. |
Verstappen’s radio from onboard channel
| Lambiase | Gap behind 1.1. Information, you have been given a five-second time penalty for the incident at turn one. Head down. |
| Verstappen | Oh, that is… |
| Lambiase | Yeah, Max… |
| Verstappen | …really lovely! |
| Lambiase | Yep. Yep. No comment. |
| Verstappen | Oh don’t worry, I don’t care |
| Lambiase | Mode nine. |
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