Verstappen “does not exceed the limit” and punishment is branded “not nice”.

Former Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa has vigorously defended Max Verstappen in the insult dispute, in which the three-time world champion will perform the sporting version of community service.

It is now common knowledge that Verstappen used the F-word during the official FIA drivers’ press conference on Thursday ahead of the recent Singapore Grand Prix.

After he was called to the stewards, it was assumed that the Red Bull driver would be given nothing more than a formal warning, as was the case with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and his Ferrari colleague Fred Vasseur They used the same swear word during an official FIA press call last year.

However, Verstappen is now required to “carry out some work of public interest” as determined by the FIA.

One of the stewards who handed Verstappen his penalty, Johnny Herbert, has explained why the penalty was imposed.

However, former Ferrari driver Massa believes the sanction was not justified and that drivers must be allowed to be themselves, especially in the heat of battle on the track when tensions can spill over into a car’s cockpit.

“In life, in sport, there is a limit to what you can say, in any situation,” Massa said in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365.

“What happened to Max, he didn’t go over the limit. When you argue, there are a few words and whatever you know, even a few bad words. Sometimes it’s part of the sport. It’s part of the conditioning, the pressure, whenever something happens in a race.

“In football you make a bad tackle against another player. When he has a microphone to his mouth, things come out, and maybe not in a perfect way.”

“But what’s happening is too much, you know. The sport needs to have a way to allow fun things to happen, even crazy things, to be part of the battles (on the track).”

“You can’t really do that. It wasn’t nice what happened to Max with that penalty that Max got and whatever, you know, all the drivers can have to keep him from doing too much.”