Max Verstappen has a reputation for making off-colour remarks but Formula One Management appeared to censor one of his radio comments in error yesterday.
The Red Bull driver’s reaction to his five-second time penalty was censored in the live world television broadcast of yesterday’s race. However the original message appears to contain no profanity.The FIA introduced regulations earlier this year which define swearing as a form of misconduct. However no driver has been penalised for swearing on their radio and Carlos Sainz Jnr avoided a penalty for using a swear word in a press conference earlier this month.
FOM replayed part of Verstappen’s exchange with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase on their television broadcast with one word censored (below). Footage from Verstappen’s onboard channel indicates he sarcastically called his penalty “really lovely.”
Verstappen often uses a similar expression, “simply lovely”, on his radio. He applied to trademark the phrase last year to use it in a line of fashion products.
However Verstappen has tended to use profanity more frequently on his radio than his rivals do, notably in last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem subsequently complained about drivers swearing on their radios, following which Verstappen said FOM should not broadcast it.
F1 has been criticised for allegedly misrepresenting drivers’ radio messages already this year. It denied intentionally omitting a key comment by Lewis Hamilton during the Chinese Grand Prix, which gave the impression he disobeyed an instruction from his team.
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Verstappen’s radio on TV broadcast
| Lambiase | Information, you have been given a five-second time penalty for the incident at turn one. Head down. |
| Verstappen | Oh, that is… |
| Lambiase | Yeah, Max… |
| Verstappen | …[censored] lovely! |
| Lambiase | Yep. Yep. No comment. |
Verstappen’s radio from onboard channel
| Lambiase | Gap behind 1.1. Information, you have been given a five-second time penalty for the incident at turn one. Head down. |
| Verstappen | Oh, that is… |
| Lambiase | Yeah, Max… |
| Verstappen | …really lovely! |
| Lambiase | Yep. Yep. No comment. |
| Verstappen | Oh don’t worry, I don’t care |
| Lambiase | Mode nine. |
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JackL
21st April 2025, 17:34
On the one hand, their censorship is getting to ridiculous levels.
On the other hand, Max’s regular criticism of the stewards isnt right. Its one thing to criticize, its another to call them idiots or swear at them as he has done in the past. He can raise his concerns in the GPDA, or the briefings, without making inappropriate public comments about it.
Greg
21st April 2025, 22:22
If someone is making idiot decisions… it normal to call them idiots
El Pollo Loco
22nd April 2025, 6:20
The stewards are consistently making idiotic decisions IMO. Max’s penalty wasn’t one of them. However, I don’t agree with the idea it isn’t right to criticize the stewards. It’s also not as if he or anyone is calling them out by name. Herbert was the only one to be called out by name and not by the drivers, but by the fans as he was so clearly personally biased.
El Pollo Loco
22nd April 2025, 6:21
The stewards are consistently making ludicrous decisions IMO. Max’s penalty wasn’t one of them though.
I don’t agree with the idea it isn’t right to criticize the stewards. It’s also not as if he or anyone is calling them out by name. Herbert was the only one to be called out by name and not by the drivers, but by the fans as he was so clearly personally biased.
Davethechicken
22nd April 2025, 13:29
He wasn’t too polite about Garry Connolly you are forgetting, and I am still amazed he didn’t get a ban for the language used then.
Ferdi
29th April 2025, 12:12
Must have had something to do with them being embarrassed and feeling guilty for hiring inappropriate candidates in the first place.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
22nd April 2025, 7:02
That would require briefings to be used for their proper purpose of FIA/driver communication. If Verstappen is to be believed, the FIA has ceased doing so (even for matters necessary for the proper running of the race and in the FIA’s self-interest, such as the FIA communicating their expectations to the drivers).
Ferdi
27th April 2025, 11:56
I would like more drivers to become more vocal. It is staring us all in the face, the scripting, the censorship, the turning the sport into a circus. Yet he is the only one to call the animal by its name. FIA&Liberty are F1 unworthy at the very least.
Dusty
21st April 2025, 17:42
It was not linked in the article and I have only found a “Bloody Lovely” version.
It’s so hard to know when audio clips are real these days.
M2X
21st April 2025, 20:15
Its is the correct version.
“Well, that is bloody lovely”, can be heard on F1TV onboard of Verstappen around 18m11s.
MacLeod (@macleod)
23rd April 2025, 8:22
I hear Really beep Lovely when hearing that back.
Matt
22nd April 2025, 1:28
Even harder when all you need is a bunch of recordings uploaded to something like elevenlabs.io and you can have max say anything you like and sound legit through voice cloning.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
22nd April 2025, 7:03
Some people consider “bloody” a swear, but I don’t think the FOM is consistent about censoring it.
MacLeod (@macleod)
23rd April 2025, 8:20
Only the F- word is monitored and for you to know bloody isn’t swearing for the Dutch translation to English more an outing of discontent ‘translated’ but who am I as I never learned English writting. Reading Books seems to help…
osnola
23rd April 2025, 13:20
Even disney uses the Bloody language in its films..
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
21st April 2025, 17:46
Sounded to me like there as an extra word in-between “Really” and “Lovely”
I could swear I heard “Really BEEP Lovely”
Femke
21st April 2025, 18:56
They also use fake crowd cheering audio samples, even in corners without grandstands. I hope management will be sold to an european media giant soon
Steven Williamson
22nd April 2025, 5:42
That is why I don’t watch most sitcoms, the laugh tracks are an insult to my intelligence, I can decide on my own if something is funny enough to laugh.
MichaelN
21st April 2025, 19:53
In that case, it could just be that the guy making the edit was unsure, had to act fast, choose to be ‘better safe than sorry’, and threw a bleep in there.
These things, while silly, are not always a sneaky conspiracy.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
21st April 2025, 18:05
Fake 1
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
21st April 2025, 18:06
but really i need a time stamp so I can rewatch it for muh self.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st April 2025, 18:06
So the censoring wasn’t for the F-word with ing-ending, after all. Weird.
Terrion (@terrion)
21st April 2025, 18:13
Tr*ly disturbing
Terrion (@terrion)
21st April 2025, 18:13
H*nestly
osnola
23rd April 2025, 13:22
Now we know why Fia starts with f@#$%
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
21st April 2025, 18:24
Simply lovely.
Mark Tucker
21st April 2025, 18:29
Because all they care about is “the show” and their netflix story lines.
Radoye
21st April 2025, 18:35
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe
Ferdi
27th April 2025, 11:58
Nice one, thanks! Didn’t know they already created a word for this. I have been using ‘Liberty media-ing’ the x out of something.
Electroball76
21st April 2025, 18:38
je k*nt het niet serieus menen?
jk
22nd April 2025, 6:44
nee
Sham (@sham)
21st April 2025, 21:52
I’m pretty certain I heard ‘bloody lovely’, but I can’t be 100%.
Who cares, it’s their ball – they can play with it how they want. All we have to do is decide if we care enough to stop sending our money their way.
El Pollo Loco
22nd April 2025, 6:23
Yeah! Why should we care about how F1 is run?! We’re only the fans.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd April 2025, 12:56
Not all of us spend money on f1, don’t have to go to the races and don’t have to watch on the pay tv.
Steven Williamson
22nd April 2025, 5:45
Lol! Literally the same as the Jimmy Kimmel “Unnecessary Censorship” bits where they bleep normal words, and your brain assumes they were swear words!
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
22nd April 2025, 11:38
I have never heard of that, but it sounds like it could be hilarious.
I will search YouTube later – thanks for the pointer ;)
Steven Williamson
23rd April 2025, 7:06
They usually do it on Thursdays, the last show of each week, on the broadcast. I only watch on YT now, and they sometimes have it in the main monolog video, but if not, they post it as a separate video. The craziest ones are in cartoons!
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
22nd April 2025, 15:37
First, it shows that Max can control his swearing and when he does swear he’s making a conscious decision to do so. Secondly, FOM are selling the broadcast to companies that are not allowed to broadcast swearing, and I’d imagine they push back whenever swearing is included in the broadcast, so it makes perfect sense for someone at FOM to have their hand over the censor button when they think a driver may swear.
AlexS
23rd April 2025, 0:59
It is not live. So the censorship is made with perfect conscience that no swearing words were said and made to appear they were . Manufacturing polemics.
osnola
23rd April 2025, 13:24
so he can control his swearing because he did not used foul language..
Interesting line of thought..
Esmiz (@esmiz)
22nd April 2025, 23:14
Crikey!
baasbas
23rd April 2025, 10:11
I’ve heard this before somewhere…
baasbas
23rd April 2025, 10:12
Also.. this should be community service then?