F1 Drivers Unite To Speak Out Against FIA President After Penalties For Swearing

F1
Thursday, 07 November 2024 at 14:12
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GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers' Association), of which all 20 F1 drivers are members, released a statement addressing FIA and its president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
George Russell, who is a director of GPDA, has already teased that F1 drivers were working on a united response to FIA concerning the latest issues, such as swearing in and outside of F1 cars.
Following the 2024 United States Grand Prix, Russell said GPDA would like to share a letter with the media sometime after Mexico City, and on Thursday 7th of November, GPDA posted the letter on its official Instagram profile.
This letter comes in response to the comments made by the FIA president ahead of the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix in relation to drivers' swearing and FIA's recent clampdown on swearing during press conferences.
Max Verstappen received a penalty for having to accomplish something of public interest for dropping an F-word during Thursday's press conference in Singapore, and Charles Leclerc received a €10,000 penalty for doing the same at a post-race press conference in Mexico City.
F1 drivers didn't agree with these punishments, and Lewis Hamilton, for example, urged the triple World Champion from Red Bull not to serve his penalty.
The official statement from the GPDA starts with acknowledgment of their position as competitors and continues to address the main issue, which is the swearing.
"As is the case with every sport, competitors must abide by the referee's decision, whether they like it or not, indeed whether they agree with it or not. That is how sport works. The Drivers (our members) are no different, and fully understand that."
"Our members are professional drivers, racing in Formula 1, the pinnacle of international motorsport. They are the gladiators and every racing weekend they put on a great show for the fans."
"With regards to swearing, 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 a Formula 1 car, or a driving situation."
"We urge the FIA President to also 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 via the media about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewelry and underpants."
The "jewelry and underpants" is a reference to earlier controversies of Ben Sulayem's period as president, when FIA enforced rules on wearing the right underwear and forbade drivers from wearing jewelry.
The letter continued to express how F1 drivers disagree with the monetary fines and would like to see more transparency from FIA in relation to where all that money from penalties goes.
"The GPDA has, on countless occasions, expressed its view that Driver monetary fines are not appropriate for our Sport."
"For the past 3 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 have also relayed our concerns about the negative image financial fines bring to the Sport. We once again request that 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 where the money is spent for the benefit of our Sport."
"The GPDA wishes to collaborate in a constructive way with all the stakeholders, including the FIA President, in order to promote our great Sport for the benefit of everyone who works in it, pays for it, watches it, and indeed loves it. We are playing our part."