Verstappen serves penalty for swearing hours before prize ceremony

Max Verstappen served his FIA punishment for swearing ahead of being officially crowned as Formula One world champion for a fourth successive year in Rwanda.

The Dutchman used an expletive during a press conference in Singapore when describing the performance of his Red Bull car at the previous race in Azerbaijan.

He was told to "accomplish some work of public interest" as punishment and Verstappen did so by attending a motorsport development programme with young drivers and engineers, hours before attending the FIA's prize-winning gala.

FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem said: "Max really fulfilled his promise.

"This is the community service we need every single driver, champion, to do if we want to grow. If we talk about diversity, this is the real diversity. It was not about the car, mainly about the people there."

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Ben Sulayem handed Verstappen the world championship trophy later that evening and the Dutchman hopes he can continue to achieve success in the sport going forward, despite fierce competition and a season in which seven drivers won multiple races.

He said: "It's amazing, four titles is definitely incredible. Of course I also hope it doesn't stop here. I hope we can be successful for a longer period of time.

"This year the competition is very close, but then again in 2026 a lot is going to change."