Max Verstappen says the disagreement with the FIA and Formula 1 over his use of swear words could have an influence on his future in the sport.
The FIA summoned Verstappen and ordered him “to accomplish some work of public interest” as a result of using the f-word when describing his car during an official Singapore Grand Prix press conference on Thursday. The three-time world champion opted to limit his answers in official press conferences on Saturday and Sunday in response, and when carrying out his own separate media duties he suggested it’s a topic that he’s frustrated to have to deal with.
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“For sure, these kind of things definitely decide my future as well,” Verstappen said. “You know, when you can’t be yourself, or you have to deal with these kind of silly things. I think now I’m at the stage of my career that you don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring.
“Of course, it’s great to have success and win races, but once you have accomplished all that winning championships and races, and then you want to just have a good time as well.
“Everyone is pushing to the limit. Everyone in this paddock, even at the back of the grid. But if you have to deal with all these kind of silly things, for me, that is not a way of continuing in the sport, that’s for sure.”
And Verstappen says he won’t change the way he acts during race weekends, because he wants to be as authentic as possible.
“I will always be myself. I will not, because of that, change how I am in my life anyway, but also how I’m operating here.
“At the end of the day, I don’t know how serious they would take that kind of stuff [a quit threat]. For me at one point, when it’s enough, it’s enough, and we’ll see. Racing will go on, F1 will go on also without me. It’s also not a problem for me. It’s how it is.”
Verstappen says his issue is not solely with the FIA but also with Formula One Management (FOM) and the way the entire sport operates as a whole, but that he is maintaining his approach to giving short answers in official commitments to emphasize his point.
“For me personally, there is absolutely no desire to then give long answers, when you get treated like that. I never really felt like I had a bad relationship with them. Even this year, I did voluntary work with junior stewards. I gave them a half an hour interview, like all set up, so I tried to help out.
“I’m not a difficult person who says no. ‘OK, sure, if that’s what you guys would like, I like to help out’, and then you get treated like that. Well, that’s just not how it works. So for me, it was quite straightforward because I know that I have to answer, but it doesn’t say how long you have to answer.”