Lewis Hamilton slams FIA chief over “racial element” to comments on F1 drivers’ swearing

Most F1 racers including Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen criticized FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem’s appeal to drivers to consider how they express themselves when in a car.

Lewis Hamilton has surrounded the head of the FIA with racism for commenting on bad language of Formula 1 drivers.

Mohammed ben Sulayem, president of the sport’s governing body, wants drivers to stop swearing over the radio while behind the wheel. Expletives are bleeped during live broadcasts but the FIA chief said he wants drivers to show more restraint. He told Motorsport.com: “We have to differentiate between our sport, motorsport, and rap music. We’re not rappers, you know?

“They say the F-word how many times per minute? We are not on that. That’s them and we are [us]. Imagine you are sitting with your children and watching the race and then someone is saying all of this dirty language. I mean, what would your children or grandchildren say? What would you teach them if that is your sport?”

But the wording of his objection did not go down well with Hamilton, who snapped back: “With what he is saying, I don’t like how he expressed it. Saying it was rappers was very stereotypical, and if you think most rappers are black, it really points it towards, ‘We’re not like them’. So I think those were the wrong choice of words, and there is a racial element there.”

He does, though, agree with Ben Sulayem’s premise that drivers can do more to avoid the use of bad language behind the wheel. The Mercedes driver, 39, said: “I agree in that sense that you listen to some of the younger drivers, and they’ve not got it yet, and at some stage, they probably will.

“I know that if you speak about the fact that there are consequences for it, people will cease doing that. I don’t know if that is required but I feel that there is a bit too much [swearing]. “

Max Verstappen is among the list of drivers that can be seen and heard using wrong words while talking on the radio. And Red Bull racer was not for such suggestion that he should be careful with his words while focusing on racing.

The Dutchman scoffed as he asked: “Come on what are we? Five-year-olds? Six-year-olds? Even if a five-year-old or six-year-old is watching, I mean they will eventually swear anyway even if their parents won’t or they will not allow it. When they grow up they will walk around with their friends and they will be swearing. So you know this is not changing anything.”

His title rival Lando Norris agreed and added: What we are is just those people when they are stressed and pressed, and fighting, crashing big time. It is much easier for them to say than for us to do because we are the ones who are out there putting our emotions to the test in our bid to try to beat people and we are giving it our best.

‘The only thing is the heart rate is so high. We are just putting our passion and our love into it. Of course, there is going to be some such words say on the other side but it’s because, it is just trying it is just wanting to give the best we feel hard done by when things are not going right.’