Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has said the FIA was wrong to punish Formula One world champion Max Verstappen for swearing. 

The Red Bull driver, who won his third world championship title last year, was asked to do community service by the motorsport’s governing body for swearing in a news conference during last month’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen then protested against the punishment by giving short answers during an official news conference and termed the penalty "ridiculous", going on to say that such decisions could speed up his exit from the sport. 

Now, the former Haas boss has weighed in, saying that the FIA should not have “made a big story out of it.”

“Max didn't swear at anybody. He used the f-word about his car. So nobody got offended by it, in my opinion,” said Steiner, who departed Haas at the start of the year. 

"The best way [to handle it] would have been not to make a big story of it. Sit down with the drivers, they have a meeting every weekend, and say: 'Hey, guys, can you tone it down a little bit? We are the FIA, we don't really like this.' 

"But don't say: 'If you do, you get a fine, a penalty, whatever.' Because you know these guys, they've got an ego as well. And they say: 'I don't want to do that.' And then what do you create? All this controversy - for nothing."

Steiner’s popularity rose even outside the sport through Netflix’s Drive to Survive documentary series, where he was often seen using bad language.

“You have heard me a lot in press conferences and interviews like this, I don't swear. I swear when I am in battle. And that's why I made these comments,” he said. 

"When you are in the heat, and adrenaline is going and emotions are going, you do it. When we say, 'Oh, the children, we have to look after our children.' But they hear it everywhere. Swearing has changed from what it was 20 years ago to now.”

"When you swear at somebody, that's a different story. But swearing at somebody in the race I understand because you're doing 350kmph and somebody cuts you off, you're not saying: 'Hello, buddy, you shouldn't be doing this.’”

Verstappen has had a difficult 2024 season in F1 with McLaren giving Red Bull a run for their money. The Dutch driver sits only 51 points clear of second-placed Lando Norris in the driver’s championship with six races to go of the season. 

F1 will return for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on October 20 with races in Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi remaining on the calendar.