As pointless brouhahas go, the veritable storm-in-an-eggcup over the extent to which expletives should form part of the F1 race broadcast was remarkable for several reasons. The way it hogged the headlines over and above the excitement of the championship run-in was most peculiar – although, since what it actually represented was the rumble of old fault lines grinding against one another, perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised.
As Alex Kalinauckas points out on p106, this is fundamentally yet another example of the FIA and its president making a valid point but the wider world, and particularly F1’s competitors, contriving to miss that point because it wasn’t communicated clearly enough. The fact that a perfectly reasonable observation about sub-optimal communication was communicated so sub-optimally is an irony even Alanis Morrisette (the singer who, famously, dedicated an entire single to adumbrating a number of supposedly ironic scenarios which were actually just bad luck or the result of poor cutlery procurement practices) would grasp.
Words have power. That’s why Winston Churchill’s “we will fight them on the beaches” had a powerful rallying effect at the time and continues to resonate through history. Had he merely stood up, shuffled his papers, then mumbled “Eh, sorry, I’ve got my notes mixed up. Spiff spaff. Anybody been to Peppa Pig World?” the result might have been altogether different. See also Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address – not even scheduled to be the headline oration of the day and just 10 finely crafted sentences long, it has remained fixed within the fabric of history. Edward Everett’s two-hour bum-number, which preceded it, has not.
So, given the potency of words, we should be mindful of how we deploy – or, indeed, report them. Mohammed Ben Sulayem was voicing a reasonable point when he highlighted that widespread broadcast of expletives – albeit bleeped out – normalises a particular mode of expression, especially when the people doing it are influential role models. Had he phrased this better, and not freighted it with a needless comment about rap music which became a sideshow in itself, the point might have landed without exploding. After all, in saying that there’s too much swearing on TV these days Mr President is by no means alone.
Whether or not English is their first language, a racing driver in high-pressure situations is likely to express themselves pithily. The commercial rights holder’s desire to maximise drama ensures such soundbites will be picked for broadcast ahead of a discussion on going up a notch on the front wing. In GP Racing we accurately report what people say – but our choice is based on relevance to the matter rather than cheaply dialling up the shock and awe.
