George Russell has blasted the FIA's decision to loosen their rules on drivers swearing, branding the move 'suspect' and 'ludicrous'. Earlier this week, the governing body announced that drivers would no longer face potential bans for using bad language over team radio and in press conferences. Swearing will now be seen in two different lights, depending on whether it is in a ‘controlled’ or ‘non-controlled’ environment.

Previously, drivers would risk points deductions or even race bans for repeated violations. Max Verstappen was infamously ordered to do community service last season for saying his car was 'f*****'. Russell was one of the biggest critics of the initial swearing ban and did not mince his words when quizzed on the latest changes on Thursday.

He was in no mood to praise the FIA for easing the rules on swearing, believing they should never have been implemented in the first place.

"We’re talking about a situation where things have been reverted because it was a little bit ludicrous in the first place," said Russell, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA).

"We’re happy to see things go back to how they should be, but it should never have been there in the first place, so it feels a bit wrong to be thanking the changes when we shouldn’t have been in that place to begin with.

"It’s a bit of a strange predicament and we’ve still had no correspondence with anyone from senior level at the FIA, so it’s all a bit suspect."

Quizzed on why he thought under-pressure FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem had not spoken to drivers, Russell replied: "That's a good question. It seems more challenging than it should be really, but we've all put our views forward.

"I wouldn't say it's gotten to a point of no return, but you at least want to see willingness from the other party. I think we feel we've put our views forward, and we want to have conversations and dialogue, and there's only so much you can ask."

Lewis Hamilton also questioned the FIA's decision to backtrack ahead of this weekend's race at Imola. He adopted a similar stance to his former Mercedes team-mate, branding the saga 'ridiculous' and suggesting the governing body was in a 'mess'.

"I don't really know, nothing I say is going to make any difference to it," said Hamilton. "It seems a bit of a mess there at the moment. There are lots of changes that are needed, for sure, but it doesn't really affect me."