SINGAPORE — Max Verstappen refused to give full answers during a post-qualifying press conference at the Singapore Grand Prix in an apparent protest against the governing body’s decision to penalise him for swearing during Thursday’s media session.
The three-time world champion was given F1’s version of community service after using the word “f—ed” during Thursday’s official FIA press conference.
After qualifying in second place on Saturday evening in Singapore, he was required to attend the FIA’s post-qualifying press conference to answer questions about the session.
He gave seven brief answers to individual questions, before telling journalists “I would prefer if you ask these questions outside the [press conference] room.”
When the session, which included Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, came to an end, Verstappen agreed to talk to journalists outside of the room, which is located in the main pit building.
Due to his commitment to go to speak to TV broadcasters after the press conference, an FIA representative prevented him from talking to journalists directly outside the room and instead Verstappen answered questions as he walked down stairs from the media centre to the TV pen.
Asked if his short answers were some kind of protest over his penalty, Verstappen said: “I find it of course ridiculous what happened.
“So why should I then give full answers because it is very easy, apparently, that you get a fine or some sort of penalty?
“So I prefer then not to speak a lot, save my voice, and of course we can do the interviews also somewhere else.”
Following Thursday’s press conference, Verstappen was summoned to the stewards office over his language where the panel of four stewards deemed he had breached the International Sporting Code.
They ordered the Red Bull driver to “accomplish some work of public interest” as a penalty, which differs from previous decisions in F1 over the use of profanities that resulted in formal warnings or financial penalties.
“They want to set a precedent,” Verstappen said on Saturday. “People got warnings or a little fine [in the past] and now with me they want to set an even bigger example I guess, which for me is a bit weird of course because I didn’t swear at anyone particularly, I just said one thing about my car.
“It’s in the code, you know? They have to follow the book and it’s…
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