Toto Wolff calls for F1 BAN after Max Verstappen swearing controversy

Toto Wolff

Wolff calls for F1 BAN after Verstappen swearing controversy

Max Verstappen has been embroiled in a swearing row with the FIA

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 2 March 2025 19:58 Updated: 22:05

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has called for a ban surrounding the swearing controversy that has swept through Formula 1.

Max Verstappen has been embroiled in a row with the FIA around the use of swear words in official press conferences, having been given an off-track penalty for using an expletive at the Singapore Grand Prix.

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The four-time champion proceeded not to give full answers in future press conferences out of protest, instead holding his own impromptu media huddles outside of the official FIA press conference.

Following the drama last September, several drivers have voiced their concerns about the way in which the FIA dealt with the situation, including the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), George Russell.

Despite pressure from drivers via a signed statement from the GPDA, however, the FIA has refused to back down on their stance over driver swearing, with president Mohammed Ben Sulayem even suggesting recently that team radios may need to be banned from being broadcast, if drivers cannot adhere to FIA rules.

Max Verstappen was caught up in a row with the FIA in 2024

Toto Wolff has had his say on the swearing controversy

Wolff's driver swearing stance

The row around swearing in the sport looks set to rumble on into the 2025 season, with Verstappen investigated during pre-season testing for an X-rated gesture when driving through the pit lane.

It was deemed that Verstappen would be exempt from the FIA's wrath after this incident, due to the fact that it was while he was 'on the field' in his Red Bull cockpit, rather than during official media duties.

Now, Mercedes team principal Wolff has suggested that there should be certain aspects of driver swearing that should be banned, while talking about the issue as a whole.

"I don't think we should be swearing about officials," he told media at pre-season testing. "That's for sure, and that's why also the FIA needs to protect that. It's clear. For me, it is about respect, about respect to your competitors, respect to the officials, not inciting anybody, whether it's your own people or whether it's an adverse competitor out there on track.

"It makes a big difference whether you use the F-word in the context of your own driving or out of emotion, like James [Vowles] said, because I'm using that if I'm annoyed.

"But when it is directed in the car to another driver, to an official or to your team, I think this is what we need to prohibit. And we need to make a difference, in my opinion, between these two.

"We don't want to mute the drivers and their emotions. If we're in a press conference, if we are being interviewed, that's a completely different set. But in the car, as long as it's not an incite and as long as it's not disrespectful to somebody else, I would just let it go."