Formula 1 may hear a little less from Max Verstappen this year as the Red Bull driver has a nursery to paint and he’d rather spend his money on that than covering a fine for swearing.

After last year’s clampdown on the drivers swearing, the FIA took further steps to ban foul language with the release of an updated version of the FIA’s sporting code that laid out the guidelines for harsh punishments for offences committed under Article 12.

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That relates to misconduct, bad language and causing ‘moral injury’ to motorsport’s governing body with the drivers facing monetary fines, the docking of championship points and even suspensions.

The punishments would be based on a sliding scale determined by the FIA’s competition level, with a specific tier reserved for F1 where base fines should be multiplied by four.

Last year reigning F1 World Champion Verstappen fell foul in the initial clampdown as he told the media during an FIA press conference that his RB20 was “f***ed”. He was handed a day of community service for the offence.

Verstappen responded to that with a silent protest as he refused to speak during FIA events and instead held his media briefings as he walked back to the Red Bull garage.

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It’s no wonder the Dutchman is keeping his thoughts to himself.

Speaking to the media including PlanetF1.com ahead of the F1 75 event at the O2 Arena, he was asked for his take on the FIA’s ruling and replied: “Yeah, I prefer not to speak about that, it might get me in trouble. So it’s better not to answer that.”

The soon-to-be-father later expanded on the topic with the Dutch press, acknowledging that he has more important things to pay for than cough up for swearing.

“Of course, it also depends a bit on what you all say and who it is directed at,” he said. “It’s all very tricky. You obviously prefer to spend that money on something else then, like a children’s room, fresh paint.

“You have to be very careful with what you say. It shows.”

One driver who has already found himself out of pocket this year is World Rally Championship driver Adrien Fourmaux who was given a €10,000 fine for using the F-word during a press conference at the Rally Sweden.

Asked for a summary of his rally, the Frenchman replied: “I think it will be difficult to do a good time. There is a lot of sweeping in the beginning. We f***ed up yesterday.”

He was found guilty of breaching Article 12 of the 2025 FIA International Sporting Code and was handed a €10,000 fine, with a further €20,000 suspended for 12 months.

Verstappen warned that such penalties could see the drivers refuse to give interviews, such as he did last year after his Singapore penalty for swearing.

“If you have read what that rally driver said, I think yes… Then indeed you have to keep your mouth shut, but then you won’t give very many interviews anymore either,” he warned.

Asked if he had spoken with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem after January’s release of the new guidelines, Verstappen replied: “No. But I don’t know. It’s a complicated matter, I would say. I always share my opinion. And as I say, now it’s just a bit much. It was not necessary to put it fully written down like that.

“I think it’s important that we can have a proper discussion about this, but we also need help from others, from teams, promoters, because we’re all in this together at the end of the day.”

But while the drivers kept their language clean during Tuesday’s grand F1 75 livery launch event, one person in the audience did not – Gordon Ramsay.

The sweary chef who is known for his F-bombs was asked for his thoughts on the ban and just couldn’t resist.

“These athletes push themselves to the extreme, so sometimes when it comes out,” he said. “Let them be real, let it go. They’re risking their life every time, traveling over 200mph per hour.

“So, if the shit hits the fan…”

And with that, his mic was cut.