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Verstappen makes 'community service' joke after Antonelli swearing mishap

GPblog (EN) · Henry Eccles · 2026-09-04T10:17:19+00:00 · nguồn gốc

Max Verstappen has warned Kimi Antonelli he will let him know what "community service" is like in a lighthearted exchange between the pair referencing Antonelli's swearing mishap at the Drivers' press conference on Thursday ahead of the Italian GP. Looking for the right words when answering a question related to high-speed crashes in F1, Antonelli became flustered after accidentally swearing, much to the amusement of those attending during F1's media day. Antonelli immediately regretted the faux pas: "Sorry. Oh my God. Sorry. Sorry. I swore. But oh my God. What did I just do? Yeah. Now I'm going to worry about the fine that is incoming. But what was I saying?" In a social media video captured by Mercedes, Antonelli discussed the incident with Red Bull's Verstappen, who himself had to complete community service in Rwanda in December 2024 as a consequence of swearing at that year's Singapore GP. A rather exasperated Antonelli, who also starts at the back of the grid this weekend, explained the situation to Verstappen. "In the press conference, I said 'oh s***'," the young Italian said, before declaring: " Yeah, but it was in an innocent way, it was not proper..." Verstappen quickly reassured the Mercedes driver: "If you're lucky, you can get away with it." The four-time world champion then drew on his own experience of facing punishment from the FIA over swearing, telling Antonelli: "I can let you know how it is, to do the community service," which got a laugh from the current championship leader. Verstappen warns Monza will be 'really painful' under 2026 rules However, there might not be much to smile about on-track for Verstappen this weekend, with the Dutchman previewing a "really painful" Italian GP due to the nature of the Monza circuit and the 2026 F1 rules. "Really painful, it's very energy inefficient, but I also don't want to be too negative about it all," Verstappen told media, including GPblog. "It's what it is, I accepted it mentally. Also, you know, just prepare for a weekend where it's a bit different. You cannot push flat out, you just have to be gentle with the throttle. Let's call it like that."