In the wake of the FIA’s decision to penalize drivers for using swear words, the Grand Prix Driver’s Association (GPDA) has come on record to call out the governing body of international motorsport. The association wrote an open letter to FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem — asking for more transparency and respect for the drivers.
The main bone of contention for the drivers is that they want to be treated as adults. But with the rising penalties and monetary fines, the GPDA has set the cat amongst the pigeons with a burning question — where does this money go?
According to Auto Motor und Sport, the GPDA wrote, “The GPDA has repeatedly pointed out that fines are not appropriate in our sport. For three years now, we have already called on the FIA president to tell us how the fines are booked and where they end up.”
BREAKING: The GPDA release a open letter urging the FIA “to treat them like adults”#F1 #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/NaErsNYJWi
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) November 7, 2024
The matter of fines is discussed in Article 12 of the International Sporting Code (ISC). According to the ISC, Stewards have the discretion of imposing fines that cannot exceed 1 million euros for the FIA F1 World Championship. The article further goes on to highlight that these fines shall be paid directly to the FIA.
That said, the ISC is completely silent on how these fines are utilized by the governing body. Is this pure revenue for the FIA? Or is this money that is earmarked for developing the sport and safety standards? It is not clear, and that’s what the drivers are not happy about.
Is the FIA really being unreasonable with F1 drivers?
As explained above, the GPDA is not in favor of the fines anyway. But what has really riled them up is the unilateral and arbitrary way that these fines are drawn up. Firstly, the Stewards have complete discretion in terms of the factum and quantum of fines.
Secondly, there is no accountability or transparency in terms of where this money goes and how it is handled. Moreover, fines have become an even more contentious topic in the paddock since the latest amendment to the ISC.
Before this amendment, the maximum fine that could be imposed was a sum of 250,000 euros. This was drastically changed overnight to the one million euro figure prevalent in Article 12.6 today.
