Explained: Why has Max Verstappen threatened to quit Formula 1?

McLaren’s Lando Norris won the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday to reduce the gap on Max Verstappen in the Formula One world championship.

The British driver took the chequered flag more than 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen after the only safety-car-free race ever on the notoriously difficult Marina Bay Street Circuit.

The three-time champion may not have pushed the limits of the street track in Singapore but hogged the headlines for his words on the microphone.

What happened with Verstappen at Singapore GP?

Verstappen appears to be on a collision course with F1’s governing body, the FIA, after his behaviour in a prickly press conference.

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The Red Bull driver used the F-word in a live broadcast of the pre-race drivers’ session with the media on Thursday, despite an FIA directive to cut out on foul language.

What punishment did Verstappen get?

After being found guilty of swearing during the press conference, he was slapped with a vague “community service order”. In protest, the Dutchman restricted his answers in the official FIA media conferences after Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.

“It’s very easy to get a fine… so I prefer then not to speak a lot,” said the 26-year-old.

Instead, he opted to talk to reporters outside the official interview room, labelling the FIA’s stance “silly” and threatening that the row could hasten his exit from Formula One.

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“These kinds of things definitely decide my future as well, when you can’t be yourself or you have to deal with these kinds of silly things,” the 26-year-old said.

“I am at the stage of my career where you don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring,” he told the BBC.

“For me, that is not a way of continuing in the sport, that’s for sure.”

Verstappen is targeting a fourth title this season but he has said in the past that a long career in F1 is not on his agenda.

He is also keen to explore other forms of motor racing once his current contract with Red Bull ends in 2028.

“F1 will go on without me. It’s not a problem and also not a problem for me. It’s how it is,” he added.

“If you can’t really be yourself to the fullest, then it’s better not to speak. But that’s what no one wants because then you become a robot and that’s not how you should be going about it in the sport.”

What led to the whole swearing issue?

In an interview with Autosport, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said “we have to differentiate between our sport — motorsport — and rap music” when referring to drivers having a responsibility to stop swearing on the radio.

Swearing on F1 team radio is already censored out before being broadcast on a delayed feed, but Ben Sulayem wants to cut down on the amount of bleeping needed.

“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,” Ben Sulayem said.

How did the drivers respond to the swearing “suggestion”?

Most drivers are on Verstappen's side and believe there are unnecessary curbs.

Before the Singapore GP, Verstappen told reporters that if the FIA did not like what drivers say in the heat of the moment, then the solution is to simply not broadcast it.

“What are we? Five-year-olds? Six-year-olds?” the Red Bull driver said.

“Even if a five-year-old or six-year-old is watching, they will eventually swear anyway when they grow up.”

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton said he had no problem with trying to clean up the language in the sport.

“I’m sure if you say there are penalties for it, people will stop (swearing),” Hamilton told reporters.

“I don’t know whether that is needed, but I definitely think there is a little bit too much.”

But Hamilton did not like the comparison drawn with rap music.

“I don’t like how he’s expressed it, saying ‘rappers’ is very stereotypical. And most rappers are black,” said Hamilton.

“That was the wrong choice of words. There’s a racial element there.”

Lando Norris agreed with Verstappen, adding that F1 “can just not play the radios.”

“We’re the guys in the heat of the moment… So it’s a lot easier for them to say than for us to do,” the McLaren driver said.

“We’re just putting our passion into it. You’re listening to the rawness of drivers and their thoughts and their feelings.

“When I listen to it, I find it cool and I find it exciting.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc said foul language happens in other sports as well, but F1 was unique in that drivers had microphones attached to them.

“I think there are other priorities for the FIA at the moment,” Leclerc said.

“I would return the favour to the FIA and ask them to take off some of our bad words and not broadcast as much. And it’s quite easy to do.

“For us to control our words when you are driving a car at 300 kilometres per hour in between walls is tricky,” he added.

“And we are humans after all.”

Former world champion Nico Rosberg, in Singapore as a TV pundit, warned that Verstappen was “pushing the limits” of the FIA’s patience.

“Max is really going for it now, not even speaking in the FIA press conference,” Rosberg said on Sky Sports F1.

“You’re contractually obliged to answer the questions. It’s a fine line. He’s pushing the limits there.”

“It’ll be interesting to watch that play out,” said Rosberg.