Sport

F1 drivers release joint statement demanding FIA treats them like adults

Drivers’ association criticises FIA amid swearing row

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was recently punished for swearing in an FIA press conference. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was recently punished for swearing in an FIA press conference. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images
Giles Richards
Thu Nov 07 2024 - 16:37

Formula One drivers have demanded the FIA stops treating them like children in a damning indictment of the governing body’s recent policies and its president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), which represents F1 drivers, issued a strongly worded and highly critical statement on Thursday, addressing the recent controversy over swearing. It took issue with the “tone and language” used by Ben Sulayem and questioned the financial transparency of the FIA, in a highly unusual and very public critique which puts the sports’ governing body in a difficult position.

After both Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc were recently punished for swearing in FIA press conferences the feeling among the drivers was that the governing body was wildly overreacting. On Thursday their scathing, united reaction was the group’s first collective public statement since 2017 – indicative of their frustration with the FIA and Ben Sulayem.

“There is a difference between swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as an F1 car or a driving situation,” the statement said.

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“We urge the FIA president to consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them, whether in a public forum or otherwise. Further, our members are adults. They do not need to be given instructions by the media about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery or underpants.”

The latter reference is to the period when Ben Sulayem insisted on enforcing rules around jewellery and underwear, which also provoked driver displeasure and, in the case of Lewis Hamilton’s nose stud, led to a long-running stand-off with the British driver.

The latest crackdown on swearing is believed to have come directly from Ben Sulayem, who gave an interview shortly before Verstappen’s punishment in which he said he did not want drivers to swear and stated F1 must “differentiate between our sport – motorsport – and rap music”.

The comment was criticised by Hamilton immediately afterwards. “Saying ‘rappers’ is very stereotypical,” he said. “If you think about it, most rappers are black, so it says: ‘We are not like them.’ Those are the wrong choice of words and there is a racial element there.”

Verstappen was given a period of community service for his misdemeanour in Singapore, when he had described his car as “f**ked”. He reacted to the punishment with cold fury and all but refused to speak at subsequent FIA press conferences, instead happily talking to the media afterwards. Leclerc was fined €10,000 for saying: “I was like: ‘F**k,’” in reference to being in a dicey moment on track at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Outside of racing incidents on track, which are usually punished with time or grid penalties, the most common FIA sanction is fines and the drivers are clearly also unhappy with both the policy and indeed how this income is being managed.

“The GPDA has, on countless occasions, expressed its view that driver monetary fines are not appropriate for our sport,” the statement continued. “For the past three years we have called upon the FIA president to share the details and strategy regarding how the FIA’s financial fines are allocated and where the funds are spent.

“We once again request the FIA president provides financial transparency and direct, open dialogue with us. All stakeholders [FIA, F1, the teams and the GPDA] should jointly determine how and whether the money is spent for the benefit of the sport.”

All 20 F1 drivers are members of the GPDA and the chair is former driver Alex Wurz. Its directors include Mercedes driver George Russell and former world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Their statement concludes with a call to work with the FIA to resolve the situation.

The FIA has been approached for comment. – Guardian