Lewis Hamilton slams FIA chief over "racial element" to comments on F1 drivers' swearing
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were among the F1 drivers critical of FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem's call for racers to watch their language while behind the wheel
by Daniel Moxon · The MirrorLewis Hamilton has lashed out at the head of the FIA over a "racial element" to his comments about the 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'm sure if you say there are penalties for it, people will stop. I don't know whether that is needed, but I definitely think there is a little bit too much [swearing]."
Max Verstappen is one of the drivers who is regularly heard swearing over the radio. And the Red Bull racer was in no mood to entertain the suggestion that he needs to watch what he is saying while concentrating on his driving.
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: "We're just the guys in the heat of the moment, under stress, under pressure, fighting, having big crashes. It's just a lot easier for them to say than for us to do because we're out there putting our hearts on the line on trying to race people and we're giving it our all.
"Our heart rates are so high. We're just putting our passion and our love into it. Of course, there's going to be some bad words on the other side of it, but it's just because we're trying, we're wanting to give our best and we feel hard done by when things don't go right."
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