By Darian Lee Crowley
The FIA has severely relaxed the penalties drivers could face for swearing, as Mohammed ben Sulayem is being challenged for FIA President.
Fines drivers can face have been reduced from €40K to €4K, and the ban may even be lifted soon. Why did the sudden change occur?
The FIA’s swearing punishment for language used during press conferences and team radio has drawn sharp criticism from F1’s drivers, teams and fans. It has united previously divided factions like the Orange Army and Team LH together against this move.
Not only the punishment but the large penalties resulted in an outcry. Yuki Tsunoda was fined €40,000 for swearing on team radio, while Max Verstappen had to serve community service for infamously using language at a press conference.
This move was largely driven by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who wanted to clean up the sport’s image and decried the drivers using ‘rappers’ language.
The FIA’s response seemed very out of touch with the modern sport. Driver to Survive has been the biggest driver of F1’s increased popularity, mainly due to its uncensored coverage of the sport, including all the emotions of teams and drivers.
The increased pressure from F1 resulted in Ben Sulayem changing tact on Instagram two weeks ago, saying that he understands the emotions the drivers can display.
Later this year, Mohammed ben Sulayem is bidding for a second term as FIA president. Normally FIA presidents face little competition on a second term bid, but this time might be different.
Carlos Sainz Sr has just confirmed he will challenge Ben Sulayem, and he seems to have the backing of a lot of interests in F1.
Ben Sulayem has decided it’s not worth fighting on this issue with an upcoming election.
Formula One isn’t the only duty of an FIA president, but it’s a pretty big part of it.
Ben Sulayem is hoping to avoid the fate of one of his predecessors, Jean-Marie Balestre. In 1991, the Frenchman was ousted as FIA president by Max Mosley amid his unpopularity with F1.
Despite backing down on the swearing ban, Ben Sulayem is still facing many other controversies with F1, such as the large number of resignations from high-level stewards in the last few months.
GDPA Director George Russell has welcomed the change but has indicated there are still many other issues drivers have with this president.
After acting like a dictator, Ben Sulayem may be starting to panic amid backlash, and he might make more concessions to F1 this year in order to help re-election. Politics and F1 can get messy.
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