Max Verstappen has suggested that the penalty he received for bad language during an FIA press conference on Thursday before the Singapore Grand Prix could lead him to consider early retirement from Formula 1.

The Dutchman faced sanctions from the FIA on Friday following comments made the previous day, in which he bluntly remarked that Red Bull had "f****d" up his RB20 in Baku, resulting in bad qualifying position and fifth place in Sunday’s race.

This followed a statement from FIA’s president Ben Sulayem, where he mentioned that ‘F1 drivers are not rappers’ and suggested avoiding swearing at the press conferences and even radio messages during the race at all costs.

As a consequence of his outburst, Verstappen was effectively given a community service-style penalty by the sport's governing body. The FIA officially declared that he is now required to fulfill an ‘obligation to accomplish some work of public interest’, a move that highlights the organization's commitment to maintaining professionalism and decorum within the sport. The FIA wants to set an example with Verstappen so this won’t happen in the future again.

After finishing the Singapore GP in second place, Verstappen gave brief responses during the press conference and agreed to speak with the media outside for the second day in a row.

While speaking with reporters, Verstappen was asked if the FIA's punishment for his swearing incident could prompt him to consider early retirement.

"Oh, for sure," answered Verstappen quoted by RacingNews365.

"I mean, these kind of things definitely decide my future as well. 

"You can't be yourself, or you have to deal with these kind of silly things. I think now, I'm at the stage of my career that you don't want to be dealing with this all the time. It's really tiring. 

"Of course, it's great to have success and win races, but once you have accomplished all that, winning championships and races, you want to just have a good time as well. 

"Of course, everyone is pushing to the limit. Everyone in this battle, even at the back of the grid. But if you have to deal with all these kind of silly things, for me, that is another way of [not] continuing in the sport."

Other drivers, like Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, shared that they don’t agree with the FIA punishment and Hamilton even said that ‘he certainly won’t be doing it [the community services] and hopes Verstappen doesn’t do it’.