‘Serious’ Max Verstappen F1 quit threat as Helmut Marko slams FIA ‘double standards’
Max Verstappen was unusually quiet in the post-qualifying press conference in Singapore in protest of a swearing penalty.
After a phone call with Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko said the FIA must take his Formula 1 exit hint “seriously” amid the swearing penalty row.
With FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem calling for a clampdown on fruity language in Formula 1 to differentiate the sport from “rap music”, F1 2024 Drivers’ Championship leader Max Verstappen became the first victim, ordered to carry out what amounts to community service after swearing in the pre-Singapore Grand Prix “press conference”.
Max Verstappen to be taken ‘seriously’ on F1 quit threat
Verstappen responded by keeping his answers very short in the FIA press conferences which followed, holding his own media sessions outside of the room, and when asked if this row with the FIA is enough to influence his future in Formula 1, Verstappen confirmed: “Oh, for sure.
“Yeah. I mean, these kinds of things definitely decide my future as well, when you can’t be yourself, or you have to deal with these kinds 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, you know?
“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.
“Of course, everyone is pushing to the limit, everyone in this battle, 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.”
Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko, when speaking to Formel1.de, has no reason to doubt what Verstappen is saying after speaking with their three-time World Champion.
“Max has to be taken seriously,” Marko warned.
“We spoke at length on the phone. Max has achieved a great deal, but it’s important for him to have fun and enjoy the whole sport. If that is increasingly spoilt for him, then his character is… If he says, ‘OK, that’s it’, then he means it. But I don’t hope that the current situation will really cause him to retire any time soon.”
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And in a nod to former Haas team boss and Red Bull technical operations director Guenther Steiner – who became a star of Netflix’s hit Drive to Survive docuseries with his F-bomb moments – Marko sees a major inconsistency in how swearing is being looked upon.
“There are double standards,” Marko claimed. “What’s more, he [Verstappen] wasn’t talking about a person, he was talking about the car, in other words an object, and in a flippant way.
“Okay, maybe in an afternoon press conference. If everything is handled so strictly, it will be handled differently in future. But it’s clearly exaggerated.”
Another major F1 figure to speak out against Verstappen’s FIA punishment was his former title rival Lewis Hamilton, who urged the Dutchman to ignore that order to carry out “some work of public interest”.
“I think it’s a bit of a joke, to be honest,” said Hamilton. “This is the pinnacle of the sport, mistakes are made.
“I certainly wouldn’t be doing it [serving the punishment] and I hope Max doesn’t do it.”
Verstappen is also engaged in a fierce battle on the track, as he bids to withstand the charge from Lando Norris and secure his fourth successive Drivers’ title. Norris reduced Verstappen’s lead to 52 points after a dominant Singapore Grand Prix win, where Verstappen crossed the line P2.
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