Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff showed rare support on Thursday for FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and his campaign to cut swearing in the sport.
Wolff spoke out after his driver George Russell repeated to reporters the language he said Red Bull’s Max Verstappen used towards him after being stripped of pole position at last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.
It contained the same ‘F-word’ Verstappen used in a Singapore press conference in September which earned him the punishment of having to carry out unspecified “work of public interest”.
Ben Sulayem has urged drivers to cut the swearing, comparing them to rappers and reminding them of their influence as role models.
“I’ve got an eight-year-old nephew who’s started go-karting and who watches all my races, watches TikTok, watches YouTube,” Russell said.
“For a world champion to be coming out saying he’s going to go out of his way to crash into someone and put them on their effing head, that is not the sort of role models we should be.”
Wolff agreed.
“I have a thing about the swearing. Like George said, he has an eight-year-old nephew who go-karts and watches all of them. I have a seven-year-old who go-karts, who watches everything.
“It’s the first time, a few months ago, that he said ‘what the f**k’.
“I asked where he heard it? ‘From the drivers’. I have my conflicts with Mohammed, I disagree with many of the other things he came up with. But on that one, it’s pretty rude.
“For me, I’d be happy to sanction that more.”
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