Verstappen set to serve his community service in Rwanda
The FIA has announced the details of Max Verstappen’s “work of public interest” duty that the Dutchman will need to serve after the stewards’ penalty for the use of bad language during the drivers’ press conference at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.
The issue arose after Mohammed Ben Sulayem issued a statement midway through the season, indicating that the FIA will take a stricter approach regarding swearing. Just days after the FIA President’s announcement, reigning world champion Max Verstappen was investigated for using bad language at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Dutch racer was due to attend FIA's press conference that usually takes place on Thursday ahead of race weekends. The reigning champion used bad language for which he was summoned to the stewards.
The incident happened after Verstappen was asked to reflect on the performance of his car, describing his car’s setup at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as “f—ed”.
After the stewards reviewed the audio transcript and heard from the driver and Red Bull team representatives, they elected to punish Verstappen for swearing in the pre-event press conference, with the Red Bull driver now obliged “to accomplish some work of public interest”.
Most recently, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was fined €10,000 in Brazil for swearing during the press conference which followed the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The governing body has now confirmed that the newly-crowned four-time F1 champion will serve his community service in Rwanda where the FIA Awards Ceremony will take place. The Dutch driver would have travelled to Rwanda anyway to collect his trophy for winning the drivers’ championship by 63 points over Lando Norris.
An FIA statement said: "The FIA has announced the details of Max Verstappen's 'work of public interest' duty linked to the Stewards' penalty for the use of unacceptable language during the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix drivers' press conference.
"Verstappen will travel to the FIA Awards Ceremony which takes place as part of the General Assemblies next week in Kigali, Rwanda to collect his fourth consecutive FIA Formula One World Championship trophy.
"The activity will involve an FIA Affordable Cross Car which was built locally in Rwanda by the RAC from blueprints provided by the FIA.
"Design blueprints for the Level 2 category Affordable Cross Car project have been delivered to the global network of 147 National Sporting Authorities (ASNs)."
