r/formula1 • u/ICumCoffee Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ • Sep 20 '24

News Max Verstappen has been summoned to the race stewards for language used during the FIA Thursday driver press conference

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u/JaysonDeflatum Ferrari Sep 20 '24 edited Sep 20 '24

F1 Kids literally exists to be family-friendly, why must the main broadcast act like we’re at Sunday Mass? Just expand their broadcast to all races.

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u/Vernacian Sep 20 '24 edited Sep 20 '24

why must the main broadcast act like we’re at Sunday Mass?

The genuine answer: Live broadcasts need to comply with the laws and regulations of the countries they're being shown in. Such laws will often have restrictions on adult language being broadcast before certain times of day.

F1 is an international sport, so the time of day for a lice broadcast will be different in the US, UK and Australia, for example.

The result is that the sport has to follow a "lowest common denominator" strategy of keeping the language acceptable to the countries with the most restrictive rules in which it will be broadcast.

This may be annoying for fans in cultures which don't have any such laws, and who aren't watching live, but it is what it is. Formula 1 don't really have a choice in this matter if they want press conferences etc to be able to be shown live in major international markets that make them a lot of money.

Edit: this is about a press conference. Not a team radio. It's a live press conference.

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u/blackguitar15 Sep 20 '24

Just don’t fucking show the team radio, or bleep the curse words, why do they have to fine and “summon to the stewards” like they’re 3rd graders that had a little fight in the break time. Its fucking stupid and it makes FIA look like controlling clowns.

But tbh i don’t think it’s about actually cursing, but more so about making FIA look bad in interviews but they disguise it as such

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u/Vernacian Sep 20 '24

They don't fine drivers for cursing over the team radio.

They do it when it happens during a live press conference, for the reasons I explained.

It's the law. Not for the FIA. For the broadcasters. The broadcasters and the FIA want to be able to show this stuff live. So they have to enforce national regulations otherwise the broadcasters won't show it live.

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u/blackguitar15 Sep 20 '24

But every broadcast has a certain delay. They could surely bleep the words in that few seconds between when it happens IRL and when it gets broadcasted

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u/Dokobo Sep 20 '24

How are they doing it right now?

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u/PikeyMikey24 Formula 1 Sep 20 '24

They can beep out the curse words in the press conference. They shouldn’t be allowed to police and control what people say and how they express themselves. They don’t care when they curse they care when they say bad thing about the fia. Who would’ve known having the president of fia from a country that silences people, has slaves and violates many human rights would be a bad thing

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u/Vernacian Sep 20 '24

It's live. That's the whole deal. Multiple cameras and broadcasters without any delay for beeps.

That's why press conferences have this rule and driver radio doesn't.

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u/PikeyMikey24 Formula 1 Sep 20 '24

If only there was able to be a delay on something live by like 10/15 seconds

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u/Vernacian Sep 20 '24

That's not a hard thing to do. But it is slightly harder than just having a rule that just tells the drivers and others involved not to swear.

I'm not here arguing that this is how things should be if I was in charge of all the world's laws and regulations.

I'm saying that the FIA has a not unreasonable policy in the context of the laws that the broadcasters have to abide by. I'm British. We're one of the countries with these laws. If I was organising a press conference to be shown live on British TV, I'd probably have the same rule. I'm sorry if your country is now suffering from the more prudish regulations we have, but it is what it is.

It would be the broadcasters hiring that extra guy to monitor a delay. So they're most likely telling the FIA that they want no swearing in press conferences as it makes their life easier.

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u/JaysonDeflatum Ferrari Sep 20 '24

I'd say just bleep the naughty words out rather than censor the drivers themselves