Red Bull star Max Verstappen’s X-rated outburst on team radio triggers warning to drivers from Formula 1 bosses
Formula 1 team bosses have been instructed to tell their drivers to stop swearing on their radios after Max Verstappen's sweary outburst at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull star was heard ranting over the team radio in a tirade which included repeated uses of the f-word.
He was heard laying into his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase who believed Verstappen might have gone too hard on his medium tyres in the final bit of the race.
The Dutchman replied: “You guys gave me this s***strategy, OK? I’m trying to rescue what’s left.â€
He also later told members of the media that his critics can 'f*** off'.
But now, the 26-year-old has spoken out again, defending himself and insisted that he will not change his manner of speech going forward.
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"(If) people don’t like my language, then don’t listen in, turn the volume down," he said. "I’m very driven (for) success, I think I’ve proven that already, I always want to optimise stuff, now people can argue that he might not be so vocal on the radio but that’s their opinion.â€
The three-time world champion insisted that the openness of language was necessary for his team to improve their performances.
He added: “It needs to be said at the time to maybe also try and force that the second pit stop would have been a bit different, that’s how it goes.
"We are very open-minded, very critical of each other, it has been working for us very well, so I don’t expect that to change.
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“It’s important you can be critical, because in this world we are living now I feel a lot of people can’t take criticism any more like it used to be, and I don’t want to end up like that.â€
But a commission meeting is understood to have been held in London on Tuesday in which the CEO of F1, Stefano Domenicali, is said to have raised the issue.
He instructed teams to remember the public nature of their race communications.
Domenicali also reminded teams that many fans of the sport are young and impressionable and could be influenced by the bad language.
It comes after Verstappen was also criticised by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton who believes he should 'act like a world champion'.
There is currently no official punishment in place for those who swear on the team radio, although overly offensive language is subject to punishment.
Yuki Tsunoda was fined £34,000 for using an ableist slur in the qualifying race for the Austrian Grand Prix for example, a total which was reduced by half on the condition he did not repeat the offence.
According to , a paddock insider reportedly stated that Domenicali has asked teams to remember that 'drivers are role models and should behave accordingly'.
The controversy comes as Verstappen is also facing criticism for his late-night sim-racing on the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix, something which has let to conflicting narratives from himself and Red Bull boss Helmut Marko.