The controversy that swelled up in September around swearing in Formula 1 isn’t going away. Following Max Verstappen being handed a punishment for swearing in a press conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, and Charles Leclerc being summoned to the stewards’ office after a similar incident in Mexico, the grid has made its feelings clear.
The response to the FIA’s swearing crackdown comes from the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), essentially a trade union made up of the current F1 grid and chaired by former F1 driver Alex Wurz.
The GPDA has existed in its current form since the ’90s, but a few days ago created an Instagram account, which has quickly garnered almost a quarter of a million followers at the time of writing. It’s now used that account to publish an open letter to the FIA, and particularly its president, Mohammed Bin Sulayem.
In the letter, the GPDA says: “With regards to swearing, there is a difference between swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as a Formula 1 car, or a driving situation.”
Max Verstappen and Mohammed Bin Sulayem / XPB Images
It also urges Bin Sulayem to “consider his own tone and language” when talking to and about F1’s drivers. This potentially refers to his comment of “We’re not rappers” when introducing the penalties for swearing, a comment that some interpreted as having racial undertones.
Perhaps most scathingly, the letter says: “Our members are adults, they do not need to be given instructions via the media, about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery and underpants.” The jewellery comment most likely refers to a 2022 incident in which Lewis Hamilton was asked by the FIA to remove his earrings and nose stud for on-track sessions, accessories he described as “literally welded on.”
Lewis Hamilton protests the FIA’s jewellery rules at the 2022 Miami GP /…
Hamilton was eventually granted an exception, but not before protesting by appearing at a press conference wearing rings on every finger, several necklaces and no fewer than three watches. It was also around this time that the FIA publicly cracked down on the underwear drivers were allowed to wear, stating that it must adhere to certain fireproofing standards.
The letter’s other major grievance is with the appropriateness of the FIA handing out monetary penalties to drivers that breach its rules, asking for greater clarity on how the funds from these fines are used.
The FIA, as of yet, has not publicly responded to the letter.
