Stewards give verdict after Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur was summoned amid ‘unacceptable’ language. Stewards deliver verdict after Fred Vasseur was summoned in Abu Dhabi.

Cursing in Las Vegas, Fred Vasseur and Toto Wolff are “safe”
The weekend for Frederic Vasseur and Toto Wolff will have the main protagonist as the Abu Dhabi track and the challenge for second place in the Constructors’ Championship, but the team principals of Ferrari and Mercedes began it with the FIA Stewards. With calm and relaxed faces, the two (very good friends) were heard by the stewards to explain the tones used in the Las Vegas press conference reserved for team principals.

As always, the meeting between the media and the pit wall bosses took place after the first free practice: fate had it that both were scheduled for a “conversation” with journalists just after the sensational incident involving Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, whose floor was ripped off by a manhole cover. Fred Vasseur, naturally heated about what happened to the SF-23, used colorful language (“We ‘messed up’ Carlos’ session”), while Toto Wolff tried to salvage what he could by emphasizing that the topic in question was “just a damn manhole cover.” The stewards considered the words not in line with the behavioral codes of the Federation: recognizing the mitigating factors, the stewards issued a formal warning to the two.

The statement from the Stewards
The Abu Dhabi Stewards found that Fred Vasseur and Toto Wolff violated Article 12.2.1.f of the International Sporting Code of the FIA, thereby causing with their words “damage to the FIA and more generally to the interests of motorsport and the values defended by the FIA.”

“The FIA considers that such language is unacceptable for the future, especially when it comes from participants who have a high public profile and are seen as role models by many spectators, especially the young ones. In debates managed by it, the FIA will not tolerate the use of this language by anyone in the future,” reads the statements of the two sanctions. Wolff was given the mitigating factor of responding to an interruption from a journalist other than the one who had asked the question, and therefore, this language is not suitable for him. For Vasseur, the circumstances of the incident led him to words he does not usually resort to.