F1 really shows itself to be a circus in Singapore, with Verstappen the headline act

There was mostly relief. After a difficult opening day in Singapore - not the first time this season that Red Bull Racing had struggled to find the right set-up for the RB20 on the Friday of a Grand Prix weekend - Max Verstappen managed to put his car on the front row of the grid. A performance as impressive as it was unexpected, and with it, the driver had put himself in a great position for Sunday's race.

While Lando Norris, Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton - the top three in qualifying - recovered from their efforts in warm Singapore, and the Irish band The Corrs made their way to the paddock to present Norris with the pole position trophy, some of the media headed for the modest press room in Singapore. Fireworks were expected there when Max Verstappen would respond to the likely many questions about his 'community service' imposed by the stewards after using the word 'f*****' during an earlier press conference.

Verstappen said a lot and then again he didn't

It became a spectacle straightaway. Lando Norris had no trouble answering the first questions from Tom Clarkson - who has been chairing the official press conference for years, and the man who verbally warned Verstappen on Thursday because of his swearing. Then it was Verstappen's turn, who responded to the questions extremely briefly and concisely from the first moment. "This is not directed at you, don't worry. I don't want to upset you," Verstappen told the presenter. But his message was clear: He was not going to say much during this press conference in protest against the penalty, for fear of running into another penalty.

"I'd rather you ask these questions outside the room," Verstappen said to a journalist in the room, who tried without much success to coax the Dutchman into still saying something about the penalty. "Problem with my voice," he added. "Then we'll leave it at that," Clarkson then said, realising there was little point in continuing with this absurd spectacle.

Verstappen holds his own press conference

Verstappen stood up, and clearly audible to everyone in the room - in response to his comment about his voice - said, "But there's nothing wrong with my balls", while the media in attendance flocked to him. This time, Verstappen did want to explain, but the FIA delegate ordered the Dutchman to go to the TV journalists, and in any case, not to hold his own standing press conference in the hall. Then let's go outside, Verstappen thought.

Walking down the stairs, Verstappen told his story, the journalists swarmed around him. In a nutshell: Verstappen thought the punishment was bizarre. "People get warnings or a little fine. Now with me, they wanted to set an even bigger example, I guess, which, for me, is a bit weird, of course. Because, I mean, I didn't swear at anyone, particularly, I just said one thing," reported Verstappen, as the press officer tried to lead him towards the TV pen, away from the written media.

How does the FIA respond now?

Meanwhile, not far from him, Tim Mayer, one of the stewards on duty, was busy talking to Jonathan Wheatley, Red Bull's team manager. The topic of conversation is no doubt easy to guess: Verstappen's press conference. Later, the same Mayer also spoke with fellow steward Johnny Herbert, FIA press officer Roman de Lauw, and Tom Clarkson, as was visible to all the media

GPblog and several other journalists, on the night of Singapore, asked the FIA spokesperson if Verstappen's press conference had caused him any more trouble? The answer to that question has not been forthcoming (for now). But everyone can figure that the motorsport federation has been anything but happy with the - yes it was - circus.