Verstappen Receives Support From Chandhok In Swearing Penalty Saga

Wednesday, 09 October 2024 at 14:00

Red Bull's Max Verstappen received more support from yet another pundit, former F1 driver Karun Chandhok.

After Max Verstappen was slapped with the controversial penalty for swearing at FIA's press conference, he received huge support from F1 drivers, pundits, and fans who believed the overly harsh.

F1 drivers like Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton expressed disagreement with the penalty already during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, and many others, such as Charles Leclerc, joined in later.

Former F1 driver Felipe Massa asserted that the 27-year-old "didn't pass the limit" and believed the punishment was "too much." Another former F1 driver, Karun Chandhok, also shared his opinion during a social media Q&A session with fans where he said, as per GPblog:

"This is a bit of a storm in a teacup, to be honest. Yes, I get it. The drivers are ambassadors of the sport and you don't want them swearing and putting off young kids particularly."

"But equally, they're athletes. There's adrenaline pumping, and penalizing them for speaking when they're emotional just feels a little bit harsh."

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"I think we want to see characters. We don't want to see robots. We want to see them wear their heart on their sleeves."

Johny Herbert (3-time F1 Grand Prix winner), one of the stewards that gave Max Verstappen the penalty, stood by the verdict they reached, saying he disagreed with statements suggesting the sport was trying to make robots of F1 drivers. Chandhok concluded by pointing out that for most drivers, English isn't even their primary language:

"And also, we have to recognise that for a lot of them English is their second language. Let's say we get an Indian driver or a driver from Japan or China."