FIA warns drivers to stop bad language

Formula one teams have been instructed to pull their drivers into line, after world champion Sebastian Vettel and former title winner Kimi Raikkonen swore during their post-race podium interviews in Abu Dhabi last weekend.

Speaking to former driver David Coulthard for the ’world feed’-broadcast new podium interviews at Yas Marina, Raikkonen said the word "sh*t" and Red Bull’s Vettel "f**k".

"I should just remind our audience that he (Vettel) is speaking in his second language," Coulthard said immediately on the podium, "and so we apologise for the choice of words."

But in a letter to team bosses, the FIA’s communications head Norman Howell said it is now their "responsibility to make sure drivers are aware such language has no place during media events".

Howell said the letter was just a "friendly" reminder, but that incidents in the future could lead to disciplinary action, according to a report by the BBC.