Inside the FIA’s Surprising Shift on Conduct Regulations
Apr.29 – Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the highly controversial president of F1’s governing body, looks set to hit reverse gear on draconian new penalties laid out in the international sporting code.
As a furious Max Verstappen was taking off his helmet in parc ferme in Jeddah, he was immediately approached by Ben Sulayem and they were involved in a brief but obviously tense exchange.
Verstappen, who served community service over the winter for saying “f*ck” in an FIA press conference last year, was incensed about his penalty for cutting the first corner of the race.
However, he point-blank refused to discuss it with the media.
“The problem is that I cannot share my opinion about it because I might get penalised,” said the quadruple world champion.
It is not just fellow Formula 1 drivers who have joined the Dutchman in lambasting the clampdown against bad behaviour – with new penalties involving tens of thousands of euros, docked points and even race bans – but also competitors in other FIA-sanctioned series, including world rally.
But Verstappen’s increasing reluctance to speak to the media hit a crescendo after Jeddah, where he referred specifically to the sporting code’s draconian new ‘Appendix B’.
“You can’t be critical in any form that might ‘harm or ‘danger’ – let me get the sheet out. There’s a lot of lines,” the 27-year-old quipped.
So, amid ongoing turmoil inside the Ben Sulayem-led regime, and the increasing likelihood that he will be challenged in the presidential elections later this year, the FIA president now looks to be hitting reverse gear.
“Following constructive feedback from drivers across our seven FIA world championships, I am considering making improvements to Appendix B,” he declared on Instagram.
“As a former rally driver, I understand the demands they face better than most. Humans make the rules and humans can improve the rules,” Ben Sulayem added.
“This principle of continuous improvement is something I have always believed in and is at the heart of all we do at the FIA. By listening to one another and working collaboratively, we continue to drive a positive future for the sport we all care so deeply about.”
Meanwhile, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher thinks at least some of Verstappen’s anger after the Saudi Arabian GP was not FIA-related.
“I think he was more angry with himself,” the German told Sky Deutschland.
“Because he almost never makes mistakes, and he knew exactly that a bad start meant he had to take that shortcut to stay in front. And it really bothers him that it didn’t work out.”
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
MBS was at least willing to accept a compromise regarding WRC in that swearing in time control interviews will only cause a fine if it’s targeted at a person.
Thats a terrible compromise, in effect its ANOTHER rule the drivers have to follow Imo
I don’t see that as a terrible compromise.
Never allowing swearing in any case is simply excessive, given the adrenaline effect shortly after finishing a special stage, but avoiding the use of a swear word directly targeted at an individual is easy to avoid even less than a minute after finishing a special stage, not to mention it can be derogatory or excessively insulting in some cases, so fair enough by the FIA to still take action in this case, but otherwise, allow for flexibility if someone ends up swearing merely due to a driving error, misfortune during a special stage, or car issue, all of which can sometimes cause emotional bursts & swearing for anyone.
All they had to do was make the fines $100000.00 for each offence, that would stop any swearing immediately, the fines are nothing to F1 drivers at present, what we have now is a system that makes the fia or Binman still look good/a face saving exercise, oh and more rules for a driver to remember and the fia to enforce, this special/timed stage/press conference/media nonsence,along with the new rule that you cant basically say “the fia are clueless calling it (into disrepute)” each to there own opinion i agree, but i am happy to agree to disagree, ofcourse this backtrack could be solely down to this years election with binman wanting to gain a few more votes, all the polls suggesting that around 83% of persons asked “is binman a good fia president” said No, that tells you everything
Danny Dyer was on TV last night in his own programme every other word was a swear wold, to much for me even but it was allowed & broadcasted so I don’t think a few naughty words in F1 is going to hurt, in fact sunodo used to make me laugh when he swore.
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.