Lewis Hamilton has taken offence at a “racial” remark from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem as a storm erupted at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Hamilton voiced his displeasure after Ben Sulayem hinted motorsport’s governing body will attempt to crack down on drivers that swear during team radio messages that are broadcast during the live TV coverage of races.
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Many drivers scoffed at Ben Sulayem’s suggestions Formula 1 officials have been directed to clamp down on the language used by drivers, but it was Hamilton that was left most unhappy.
The FIA boss told Autosport.com in an interview that motorsport was not “rap music” and drivers should mind their language, especially as children might be watching.
Swearing on F1 team radio is already bleeped out before being broadcast on a delayed feed, but Ben Sulayem wants to cut down on the amount of censoring needed.
“We have to differentiate between our sport — motorsport — and rap music,” Ben Sulayem said.
“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.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton did not like Ben Sulayem’s comparison 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.”
However, he said he has no issue if the sport does attempt to punish drivers for swearing.
“I’m sure if you say there are penalties for it, people will stop (swearing),” Hamilton told reporters in Singapore.
“I don’t know whether that is needed, but I definitely think there is a little bit too much.”
Leading drivers, including world champion Max Verstappen, said they won’t be listening to Ben Sulayem’s request.
Verstappen, who is no stranger to a fruity outburst, told reporters that if the FIA did not like what drivers say in the heat of a race, 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.”
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 happened in lots of other sports, 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.”
