FIA wrong to make big story out of swearing – Steiner

The FIA was wrong to “make a big story” out of the Max Verstappen swearing controversy, says former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.

The three-time world champion has been given community service by Formula 1’s governing body for swearing in a news conference at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Steiner, who became famous for his bad language on the Netflix Drive to Survive series, said: “Max didn’t swear at anybody. He used the f-word about his car.

“So nobody got offended by it, in my opinion.”

Verstappen was told by stewards in Singapore that he would have to “accomplish some work of public interest” as a punishment for his language.

The Dutchman then twice restricted his answers in official FIA news conferences and instead spoke to the media elsewhere outside the room.

He called his penalty “ridiculous” and said the rest of the drivers backed him and he intimated that it was the sort of situation that would shorten his time in F1.

Steiner said: “The best way [to handle it] would have been not to make a big story of it. Sit down with the drivers, they have a meeting every weekend, and say: ‘Hey, guys, can you tone it down a little bit? We are the FIA, we don’t really like this.’

“But don’t say: ‘If you do, you get a fine, a penalty, whatever.’ Because you know these guys, they’ve got an ego as well. And they say: ‘I don’t want to do that.’ And then what do you create? All this controversy – for nothing.”

Steiner did acknowledge that F1 drivers should be careful of their language in public forums.

“You have heard me a lot in press conferences and interviews like this, I don’t swear,” he said. “I swear when I am in the battle. And that’s why I made these comments.

“When you are in the heat, and adrenaline is going and emotions are going, you do it. When we say, ‘Oh, the children, we have to look after our children.’ But they hear it everywhere. Swearing has changed from what it was 20 years ago to now.

“When you swear at somebody, that’s a different story. But swearing at somebody in the race I understand because you’re doing 350km/h and somebody cuts you off, you’re not saying: ‘Hello, buddy, you shouldn’t be doing this.'”

Steiner was talking to BBC Sport in an interview to mark a new book, Unfiltered, which recounts his 10 years in charge of the Haas team. He was fired last winter after a disagreement with owner Gene Haas.

In the book, Steiner is critical of the leadership of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, saying: “His era in charge has been chaotic so far and he’s managed to upset just about every team and every team principal.”

Steiner also brings up the controversy of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when former race director Michael Masi misapplied the rules during a late safety-car period and made decisions that led directly to the world title changing hands from Lewis Hamilton to Verstappen.

Steiner writes in the book that Masi’s actions were a mistake “of biblical proportions”.

Masi replaced as race director the late Charlie Whiting, who ran grands prix as part of his wider role as F1 director and died on the eve of the 2019 season.

Steiner writes: “We all know what Charlie would have done – had he been at the helm, Lewis would now be an eight-time world champion.”

He also said that post-Whiting the FIA had “ceased being culpable for their mistakes and have lost their humility”.

The Abu Dhabi controversy happened while Ben Sulayem’s predecessor Jean Todt was FIA president, but the FIA’s inquiry into the race was overseen by the Emirati, who took office a few days later.

The FIA concluded in a report there had been “human errors” but also claimed that there “could be different interpretations” of the applicable rules.

Steiner told BBC Sport that he did not understand why the FIA simply did not admit at the time that it had made mistakes.

“I have no idea why they didn’t say it,” he said. “We all came to the conclusion that a mistake was made. I respect Michael Masi a lot. Michael is a friend as well, and we all make mistakes.

“A mistake was made. It was very difficult decisions. The wrong [one] was taken. Sometimes you have to stand up and say: ‘This was wrong but it was done. Over and out.’ Instead of going into a controversy.”

Steiner said that once Masi had made his errors, the result of the race or championship could not have been changed.

“You couldn’t do anything any more,” he said. “But saying: ‘Hey, if we had to go back, we would decide different’, I think that would have been enough. It wouldn’t make it right because you cannot change the result of the World Championship because of one race.

“But at least say, ‘Hey, it wasn’t the ideal situation. We got in a situation where it was very difficult to decide, there was a lot going on.’ You don’t even have to say we did it wrong. ‘We could have done better.'”

Steiner also discussed the championship fight between Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris, who heads into the final six races of the season 52 points behind the Dutchman.

Steiner said he gave Briton Norris a “60-40 chance” of winning the title.

“He just needs a little bit of, I wouldn’t even say luck,” Steiner said. “As long as Ferrari gets in the way of the Red Bull, because the Ferrari is better at the moment.

“In Singapore, they were faster, they just couldn’t get there because they messed their qualifying up. If they don’t mess anything up, Lando will win it.

“Max is like, ‘I cannot win the race, I am going to win the championship.’ I think he changed tone there. In the beginning, he wanted to win every race, now I think he realised ‘I can’t win the races, there is no point to take risks. I need to score as many points as possible.’

“Lando needs to stay clear now, not making mistakes or anything.”

Listen to the interview with Guenther Steiner on Radio 5 Live on 18 October at 19:30 BST in the preview to the US Grand Prix