After receiving community service for swearing during an F1 press conference earlier in the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, Max Verstappen is waging war on the FIA.
With the Dutchman in hot water for what he said out of his car, Lando Norris did his talking on the track while pulling off his best Max Verstappen impression.
For the fourth time in six races, the British driver sets the fastest qualifying lap, and he starts from pole position in Singapore today. It’s the kind of performance Verstappen, the Saturday form title rival, displayed earlier in the season when Red Bull was still the dominant force in Formula 1.
His use of the F-word during a press conference on Thursday has garnered more attention this weekend than his driving prowess. The Dutchman is furious because he received a community service-style punishment for his foul language.
Verstappen said he would speak more freely outside of the FIA press conference after qualifying and asked reporters not to question him. He would only respond with one or two words to questions.
He kept his word and said, “It’s just ridiculous, to get a penalty for that,” outside the room. It’s pretty obvious when you insult someone, but I wasn’t trying to offend anyone. It’s not the best path for our sport to take going forward.
And he found allies in Lewis Hamilton, who finished third fastest, and pole-sitter Norris, who both criticized the penalty. While Norris called it “unfair,” Hamilton went a step further, urging his former title rival to challenge the stewards’ decision. “To be honest, I think it’s a bit of a joke,” the seven-time champion remarked. Even at the highest level of the sport, errors happen. I sincerely hope Max doesn’t do it, as I most definitely wouldn’t.
Despite notching up a victory over teammate George Russell and ultimately achieving a performance on a Saturday, Hamilton was generally in high spirits. “This year has been a complete disaster for me in terms of qualifying, so I’ve just been working nonstop to try to get back up there,” he beamingly said.
“During qualifying, the car suddenly came to life for the first time in a very long time. Though I’m really appreciative of it, I believe there might have been a little bit more in the car.” “We’ve seen these two at the start of the race and in races, anything can happen,” he continued. If Norris and Verstappen collide, as they did in Austria earlier this year, he intends to pick up the pieces.
Because of a collision involving Carlos Sainz, Norris was unable to finish his fastest lap and his first attempt at qualifying for Q3. Even though his last lap was more than sufficient to secure pole, driver Andrea Stella expressed dissatisfaction with his performance.
The McLaren CEO stated, “It wasn’t one of Lando’s cleanest laps; it was stressful for everyone.” Additionally, Norris said, “I was finding it a little difficult to progress much and to get a lot of lap time through qualifying.” Although it seemed like every guy around me was getting faster and faster, I’m still happy that it was good enough for pole.
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