Max Verstappen was treated like a horrible person for swearing while Charles Leclerc was excused, former driver on FIA inconsistency 

Former F1 racer Juan Pablo Montoya stated that while Max Verstappen was unfairly crucified by the FIA for swearing, Charles Leclerc got away scot-free with the same offense. The governing body's crackdown and how it has been tightening the noose on what the drivers can and cannot say have been in the spotlight for a while now.

One of the bigger flashpoints of this was last season when the FIA directive stated that F1 drivers couldn't use abusive words or swear. Verstappen became the first offender when, in the press conference, he described his car in the Baku race using a swear word.

This ended up landing the Dutch driver in front of the stewards. He was shockingly given community service as a penalty. However, when Leclerc committed the same offense a few races later, the driver got away with just a reprimand.

Former McLaren racer Juan Pablo Montoya questioned the FIA regarding this differential treatment. As quoted by RacingNews365, Montoya felt there were different yardsticks for different people, as George Russell would not have been treated unfairly. He said:

"Charles Leclerc did the same thing. I understand it because of the young audience that F1 has, but nowadays they all hear it and use it, in school or kindergarten. There's a line you can draw for everything, but these press conferences are not live. If it was live, I would understand it, because you're in front of millions of people. At a press conference on Thursday or Friday... I just don't understand it."

Montoya added:

"You want personalities and you want to see people expressing themselves. But it depends on how the media handles it. They can easily make a big deal out of it. If it had been George Russell, for example, who had cursed, the reaction would have been very different than if it had been Max. When Charles did it, you could hear everyone shrug and let it go. When Max did it, everyone treated him like he was a horrible person."

Max Verstappen on his journey to F1

Amid FIA bringing new regulations, Max Verstappen has kept himself away from the spotlight during the off-season. The Dutch driver was recently interviewed during a live stream on the Team Redline channel, where he was questioned about his journey to F1.

The driver shared that Formula 1 was never a goal for him as such, and it was more a case of the sport being the next logical step when he started racing. He said:

"When I was growing up, my father of course drove in Formula 1 and I was at test days and a few Grands Prix. I was also in Malaysia with my mother. Those kinds of memories stay with you,"

He added:

"My father also had a karting team at the time, so I saw a lot of the racing world. I also wanted to go karting and have fun there. As that became more serious, you wonder what you can achieve and whether that could be Formula 1. It went step by step. When I was about nine years old, Formula 1 came into view as a goal,"

Max Verstappen has a tense 2025 F1 season in front of him, as this time around, there could be multiple contenders vying for the title, and it could go to the one who will be most consistent.