Why Verstappen and Russell will escape punishment for F1 test swearing

Neither Max Verstappen nor George Russell will face any repercussions for swearing during F1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Both's respective infractions went viral online over the three-day test, with eagle-eyed and eagle-eared viewers highlighting they had fallen foul of the FIA's new rules pertaining to bad language. There is, however, a key reason as to why neither will be sanctioned.

But first, some context: Ahead of the new season, the FIA has sought to restrict drivers using foul language by introducing harsh new penalties for use of expletives and speaking out against the governing body.

Those punishments include fines and even race bans and championship points deductions for repeat offences.

It is worth noting that neither would have become the first drivers punished under the FIA's strict new stewards' penalty guidelines.

That honour was bestowed to WRC driver Adrien Fourmaux, who was disciplined under the new rules after using the F-word in a post-stage interview at Rally Sweden.

Nor would Verstappen and Russell have become the first to escape punishment, either.

Formula E's Dan Ticktum was curiously not hauled before the stewards in Saudi Arabia for his profanity-laden rant over team radio at the Jeddah E-prix. The reason: It was not during a media interview.

The Briton going unpunished set a precedent after officials deemed it to be outside the scope of the guidelines. This is consistent with the compromise F1 has recently struck with the FIA - swearing over team radio will be outside the remit of the rules.

What happened in Verstappen and Russell's cases?

On the final of three days of testing, Verstappen was caught sticking his middle finger up at someone whilst driving down the pit lane. It appears the target of his playful gesture was attempting to photograph Red Bull's new RB21.

Two days prior, Russell accidentally swore during an interview. The Mercedes driver was talking to Viaplay about the red-flag inducing circuit-wide power outage, when he explained how events unfolded from his perspective.

"I came out the pits, I went on the radio, I said: 'Guys, I need to change the visor. It's a bit dark out here'," the 27-year-old recalled. "And then I realised: 'Ah, shit, there's no lights on...'"

However, neither the Dutchman nor Russell is at risk from a €40,000 fine, which is the baseline for F1 drivers - but why?

RacingNews365 understands that interviews conducted as part of a championship comply with the FIA's International Sporting Code (ISC) and its appendices, of which the stewards' penalty guidelines is one.

That means if a driver, like Russell, swears to Viaplay, Sky Sports or any other national broadcaster, that would be punishable. It does not just encompass incidents that occur when speaking in an official FIA press conference or to F1TV directly.

What is less clear, is whether Verstappen's gesture constitutes an offence. It was within the cockpit of his car, but not over team radio.

It is likely it does, because gesticulating is an active choice and motion, whereas verbally swearing can more reasonably be explained - or defended - as a pure reaction.

And the team radio compromise is intended to cover incidents that are spoken and occur in the heat of battle, which was not the case with the Red Bull driver - on either point. Not to mention, language does not merely cover what is said.

Therefore, both are surely slam dunks, right? Yes, but not quite - and for one simple reason: F1 testing is not overseen by FIA stewards and thus falls outside the purview of the immediate rules.

Ultimately, and in short, there was nobody there to penalise them. If either incident happened at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the outcome likely would have been very different for both.