Toto Wolff has offered his thoughts on the driver swearing debate, suggesting that the use of swearing on the team radio should be ‘dimmed down’ but that the sport needs to have ‘raw moments’ in the heat of battle.
These comments come amid the drama surrounding Max Verstappen, who was punished by the FIA at the Singapore Grand Prix for swearing during Thursday’s press conference. The three-time world champion was ordered to complete some community service after a trip to the stewards, sparking massive controversy in the paddock.
In response to the punishment, Verstappen staged a protest in the post-qualifying press conference, while the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris called out the FIA’s response, with the former even suggesting that the Red Bull driver should boycott the community service.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem set the tone heading into the Singapore GP weekend. In an interview with Motorsport.com, he stated that the drivers are not “rappers” and that they should reduce their use of offensive language on the team radio.
While Verstappen – Mercedes’ prime target for 2026 – believes that FOM should simply not broadcast messages with swearing in them, Wolff disagrees. “I think there is an argument that big swearing and being rude on the radio is not something that should happen,” he said in Singapore.
“If it’s so bad, it is disrespectful towards the other side of the line. There are people at home watching it, the family of the people. And although it’s the F-word is common language now, I think it’s always the context and the way you say it. But we want to have emotions. We want to have raw moments.
“We understand that the drivers are in a state of extremes, but if we can dim it down a little bit, I think that’s good for all of us. But I wouldn’t necessarily ban the F-word. I think that is street words. There’s worse than that.”
