As a triple world champion, Max Verstappen is used to being the focal point of attention on a grand prix weekend, but in Singapore the Red Bull driver caught the spotlights for the wrong reasons, caught up in a controversy with the FIA over swearing in the Thursday press conference.
The saga started with an interview of FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem with Motorsport.com in which he had urged the F1 to go further in stamping out swearing from TV broadcasts, and when Verstappen described his Red Bull car as f***ed on Thursday, it netted him a community service punishment from the governing body which was met with disbelief both by himself and his colleagues.
In his trademark renegade style, Verstappen staged a protest with purposefully curt answers in official FIA press conferences, only to then hold his own media gatherings in which he freely answered any and all questions.
Verstappen’s actions weren’t just a display of his rebellious bravado and youthful insouciance, as there was a genuine undertone of discontent and bitterness with how it had all played out and how he felt drivers were being muzzled rather than being allowed to express themselves freely, at least to a sensible degree.
“When you can’t be yourself, you have to deal with these kinds of silly things. I’m at a stage of my career where I don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring,” he said. “Of course, it’s great to have success and win races, but once you have accomplished all that, winning championships and races, then you want to just have a good time as well.
“Everyone is pushing to the limit, 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.”
It’s a thinly veiled threat to quit the series, which would seem odd for an extremely well-paid 26-year-old who has been dominating his discipline, claimed three world titles and might well be on his way to rewriting the history books. So how seriously should F1 take Verstappen’s retirement talk?
It is worth pointing out that it’s far from the first time Verstappen has signalled his intention not to stick around forever. After taking his first world championship in 2021, he already stated he has little appetite to chase Lewis Hamilton’s records or compete in F1 for the sake of it, and the move towards a 24-round calendar and sprint races has also dampened his enjoyment of being part of the globetrotting…
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