Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has said the FIA was wrong to punish Formula One world champion Max Verstappen for swearing. 

The Red Bull driver, who won his third world championship title last year, was asked to do community service by the motorsport’s governing body for swearing in a news conference during last month’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen then protested against the punishment by giving short answers during an official news conference and termed the penalty "ridiculous", going on to say that such decisions could speed up his exit from the sport. 

Now, the former Haas boss has weighed in, saying that the FIA should not have “made a big story out of it.”

“Max didn't swear at anybody. He used the f-word about his car. So nobody got offended by it, in my opinion,” said Steiner, who departed Haas at the start of the year. 

"The best way [to handle it] would have been not to make a big story of it. Sit down with the drivers, they have a meeting every weekend, and say: 'Hey, guys, can you tone it down a little bit? We are the FIA, we don't really like this.' 

"But don't say: 'If you do, you get a fine, a penalty, whatever.' Because you know these guys, they've got an ego as well. And they say: 'I don't want to do that.' And then what do you create? All this controversy - for nothing."