This year, instead of the traditional single-team launches, all ten F1 teams unveiled their cars simultaneously at the same venue—London’s O2 Arena.

Whitehall was one of the night’s standout names, entertaining both the arena audience and F1 team representatives with a string of sharp, F1-themed jokes.

However, as the comedian himself confirmed on the Chris Moyles Show podcast, he wasn’t allowed to say everything he had planned: “It was heavily policed, my script for that F1 thing, and they went through everything and they were like, ‘Right, you have to, no Bernie Ecclestone jokes, you can’t talk about Flavio Briatore.' Anyway, so they all got cut.”

After being blocked from making the joke about the British driver, Whitehall added: “I was like, ‘Is there any way round it?’ They were like, ‘Well, unless he gave you his permission.'”

In the end, he was allowed to deliver the joke—but only after asking the driver’s “permission,” who had no issue with it: “So I voice noted the joke. I was like, ‘Hi George, so, you’re going to be at this show at the O2, and I’m going to do this joke about you, and I’m just asking for your permission to do it.’