DPA
Berlin
Motorsports ruling body has asked the Formula One management to reduce the amount of foul language during television broadcasts, the Autosport news portal reported on Thursday.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem told Autosport in an interview that he’s making moves to try to change the tone of the content that is aired to fans during the race weekend.
While swear words over team radio are bleeped out, FIA is concerned about the growing frequency of such outbursts.
“We have to differentiate between our sport - motorsport - and rap music,” Ben Sulayem said, adding that drivers also bear a responsibility to monitor what they are saying.
“We’re not rappers, you know. They say the F-word how many times per minute? We are not on that. That’s them and we are (us),” the FIA boss said.
Asked if the FIA could tell F1 management to limit the usage of team radio containing foul language in the TV broadcast, Ben Sulayem confirmed this was already happening.
“We can and we are. We are the ones who actually approved more [radio] talk [on the TV broadcast],” he said.
Ben Sulayem, a 14-time Middle East Rally champion, said he understands the frustrations that competitors face, but he thinks standards have to be upheld.
“I know, I was a driver. In the heat of the moment, when you think you are upset because another driver came to you and pushed you.
“But also, we have to be careful with our conduct. We need to be responsible people. And now with the technology, everything is going live and everything is going to be recorded. At the end of the day, we have to study that to see: do we minimize what is being said publicly?”
Hamilton sees red
Lewis Hamilton felt there is a “racial element” to FIA president Ben Sulayem’s claim that Formula One drivers should not act like rappers.
Responding to Ben Sulayem’s remarks ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, Hamilton, 39, said: “With what he (Ben Sulayem) said, I don’t like how he has expressed it. Saying ‘rappers’, is very stereotypical.
“If you think about it, most rappers are black, so, it says ‘we are not like them’. So I think those are the wrong choice of words and there is a racial element there.”
Max Verstappen, who earlier this year urged critics of his X-rated radio outbursts to “turn the volume down”, was urged by the FIA moderator during the official press conference to preview Sunday’s race to watch his language after he used an expletive about his car at the previous round in Azerbaijan.
“Excuse me for the language but come on,” said Verstappen. “A lot of people say a lot of bad things when they are full of adrenaline in other sports. It just doesn’t get picked up.
“We’re here probably for entertainment purposes. It starts with not broadcasting it. If you don’t broadcast it, no one will know. It’s just probably the world that we live in. It seems like people are a bit more sensitive to stuff.”
