It is being reported that FIA has addressed Max Verstappen’s protest at the post-qualifying press conference against them. The Red Bull driver gave one-word and blunt answers to the questions asked to him during the press conference on Saturday at the Singapore Grand Prix in his attempt to showcase his displeasure over the penalty given to him by the sport’s governing body.
The FIA penalized the three-time world champion was using a swear word during the pre-race press conference in Singapore while describing his struggles during last weekend’s race in Baku. The Dutch driver claimed that he was aware that his ‘car was f***ed’ after he went out to drive in the qualifying in Baku as he experienced balance issues.
The 26-year-old was given one day of community service as punishment by the race stewards for his indiscretion. The whole situation did not sit well with Max Verstappen, who in turn asked the journalists to ask him questions outside the press room on Saturday.
As reported by AMUS, FIA have claimed that the ‘matter was closed’ and they did not have any issues with the reigning world champion giving blunt answers as they believed that ‘short answers are answers’. However, they mentioned that they would further review the situation if Max Verstappen failed to serve the penalty given to him by stewards and take the next steps.
Lewis Hamilton gives his take on Max Verstappen’s penalty
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton stated that the penalty given to Red Bull driver and arch-rival Max Verstappen was a ‘joke’.
In the post-qualifying press conference, the seven-time world champion said:
“Yeah, I think it’s a bit of a joke, to be honest. This is the pinnacle of the sport. Mistakes are made. I certainly won’t be doing it, and I hope Max doesn’t do it.”
While speaking to Sky Sports, the 26-year-old too agreed with Hamilton and pointed out that the penalty was ‘ridiculous’, adding:
“I find it ridiculous what happened, so why should I then give full answers? Because it’s very easily, apparently, that you get a fine or you get some sort of penalty. So I prefer then not to speak a lot, save my voice and we can do the interviews also somewhere else.”
On the track, Max Verstappen had a much improved qualifying session at the Marina Bay Circuit on Saturday evening as he qualified on the front row alongside his title rival and McLaren driver Lando Norris for the main race on Sunday.
The Red Bull driver was struggling throughout the two practice sessions on Friday but looked much more comfortable with his RB20 on Saturday after making radical changes to the car overnight in a bid to improve the balance issues.
