Top Formula 1 drivers have reacted with surprise to the FIA increasing the maximum fine its stewards can hand out to €1 million (£870,000).
The governing body’s motorsport council formally raised the maximum limit for fines that it stewards can issue at grand prix weekends during a meeting today, quadrupling the limit from €250,000 to €1 million.World champion Max Verstappen, who was infamously fined €50,000 for “touching and examining” the rear wing of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in parc ferme after qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2021, was bemused by the news.
“If touching a rear wing is €50k, then I would like to know what €1 million is,” Verstappen joked.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc described the potential maximum fine as a “huge amount of money.”
“I have no idea about what deserves a €1 million penalty,” he said. “I mean, some drivers are making less than that. So it’s a lot of money.”
Hamilton, who was fined €25,000 (£21,600) after the Qatar Grand Prix for running across a live race track after crashing out, argued that any fines set by the FIA stewards should go towards positive causes within motorsport.
“I think when it comes to things like this, we really need to be thinking [about] the message that sends out those that they’re watching,” Hamilton said.
“If they are going to be fining a million, let’s make sure that 100% of that goes to a cause. There’s a lot of money in this whole industry and there’s a lot more that we need to do in terms of creating better accessibility, better diversity, more opportunities for people who wouldn’t normally have a chance to get into a sport like this – so many causes around the world.
“So that’s the only way they’ll get that money from me.”
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Coventry Climax
19th October 2023, 22:29
A good cause would be circuits like Spa. If someone gets fined a million, deduct that from what Spa has to pay to have the Grand Prix for that year.
Other than that, and separate of what I think of the level of these fiines, it’s changing the rules at will again, during the season.
Jere (@jerejj)
20th October 2023, 6:19
Such a thing would be unfair towards other European circuits.
Dex
19th October 2023, 22:30
Of course they have increase the financial penalties, even though the sporting ones are insufficient and often rather pointless (“5 second time penalty solves it all”). I wonder why that is…
I’ve never seen more greed than in F1. I can’t believe what it turned into since Liberty took over. It started with a few positive changes, but that’s how the Devil works.
G (@unklegsif)
20th October 2023, 7:42
Liberty aren’t issuing fines
MacLeod (@macleod)
20th October 2023, 8:27
And don’t recieve these fine it goes to the FIA which they use for other motorsports.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
19th October 2023, 23:57
Are they asking for drivers to strike? It sounds like they’re asking for drivers to strike…
S
20th October 2023, 2:50
Strike for what?
Financial penalties under the FIA are entirely voluntary. Nobody is ever forced to break the rules.
As if they’d strike, anyway.
HAL
20th October 2023, 7:29
My thoughts, exactly
F1 seems to be getting ahead of itself because of the recent success…. I mean 1m€ for a fine while a chunck of the field earn less than this per year, suggesting Andretti should pay 700m just to enter F1…
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 12:29
@skipgamer No, they’re asking the FIA to think through the logic and revise its stance.
If it does not, the GPDA will discuss the matter.
SuperIU
20th October 2023, 0:53
Its the same thing that when a government increases the amount for traffic infractions. The only complaints came from the people who get infractions.
What Hamilton is saying is that, if that money goes to a cause he thinks it’s worth, he would do an infraction to give that money, otherwise, even if he get a infraction, he would not pay it… What kind of silly message is that?
S
20th October 2023, 2:47
Correct on both counts :)
There’s an easy way to avoid being financially penalised for anything in F1 – just don’t break the rules.
And Hamilton is simply throwing his ego around again, effectively arguing he should be exempt from financial penalties until they go to some cause he agrees with.
He could just give those causes the money himself directly… It’s not like he doesn’t have it. But as usual, he uses his standing to get others to pay for everything instead.
Aquila_GD
20th October 2023, 3:05
Thats absolutely not what he is saying. You should probably read the article again.
He is obviously making a tongue-in cheek comment on the fact that the fine limit is so high that it demands scrutiny of what FIA use this money to do
David (@nvherman)
20th October 2023, 8:22
I don’t normally agree with a lot of what Hamilton says, but on this occasion he is absolutely correct. A $1M fine is just crazy
Nick T.
20th October 2023, 3:41
I was thinking you were making a good point for exactly one sentence and then you had a schizophrenic breakdown. This does seem like yet another way for the FIA to make easy money (like the cost of buying FIA super licenses). The idea that if the $ went to a good cause, Lewis would somehow intentionally break rules, is literally the craziest thing I’ve ever read.
Anyway, IMO, the $ shouldn’t go to sponsoring aimless diversity programs, but to humanitarian causes in awful countries like China (oops, never mind), environmental causes or if it has to stay within the sport, support heritage tracks that are always threatened with being taken off the calendar.
Vezi
20th October 2023, 16:23
How are diversity programs aimless?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 12:30
That’s not true – governments increasing fines also attract complaints from people who don’t get fined, depending on the situation. (For example, increasing fines for speeding has attracted complaints from residents of affected areas, who find that drivers change routes to avoid getting fined).
SteveR (@stever)
20th October 2023, 3:02
No, and I’m not a Lewis fan, he said that unless the fine went to some worthy cause he wouldn’t pay it. He didn’t say he’d do deliberately do an an infraction to generate money. Get a grip.
SteveR (@stever)
20th October 2023, 3:04
‘He didn’t say he’d deliberately do…’ Edit function please.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th October 2023, 4:12
That’s still quite an odd comment: if he makes some mistakes and gets a fine that doesn’t go to worthy causes he won’t pay it! I like rebellion, but that’s a bit strange to see nothing wrong with that comment, even with this interpretation.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 12:32
@esploratore1 It means he thinks the FIA is not a worthy cause any more (remember that it retreated on a number of social causes at the end of last year and has made cutbacks on outreach programs).
Aquila_GD
20th October 2023, 3:07
I think Russell’s comments on this issue were the most striking. The fact that up to 25% of drivers on the grid earn a five figure sum and end up spending all of it during a season when you factor in flights, hotels and personal trainers, makes FIA limit sound very retrogressive and that is was not done with much consultation
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th October 2023, 4:17
Five figure seems a bit strange: 5 drivers who don’t even reach 100.000 euro a year? Some years ago the starting driver’s salary was way higher than that.
For example here it says they’re all at least at 1 million: https://racingnews365.com/f1-driver-salaries-2023
Even so, I could believe that some drivers like sargeant maybe wouldn’t reach 1 million, but not 100k.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th October 2023, 4:17
Five figure seems a bit strange: 5 drivers who don’t even reach 100.000 euro a year? Some years ago the starting driver’s salary was way higher than that.
On the racing news 365 site, the first link I saw on google related to that, it says they all make 1 mill +.
Even so, I could believe that some drivers like sargeant maybe wouldn’t reach 1 million, but not 100k.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 12:48
@esploratore1 The starting *salaried* driver got more some years ago. There used to be a number of drivers who were required to outright pay money for their drives. Some of these drivers were racing back then (and Alonso was, at one point, one of the people who paid money to race in F1).
Racing News 365 is using inflated estimates, and isn’t taking into account issues like the large amount of money a F1 driver pays to maintain their situation. For someone whose contract stated a headline earning of €1 m per year, €100-500 m would go to taxes depending on where the driver lived, €50,000 to the GPDA for membership fees, a variable amount for the Superlicence (€50,000 if the driver scored 5 points last year), additional expenses for FIA requirements like health checks, €30,000 for race/test travel (assuming the driver can sometimes take advantage of travelling with their team or with rival drivers), insurances (not sure how much they are, but it won’t be cheap), €20,000 for maintenance of a sim facility (that has become necessary over the last few years) and €200,000 for the staff of 4-6 full-time people that need to be hired to maintain health, financial solvency and a professionally-acceptable internet presence. So a driver’s looking at €550 k – €950 k of expenses, minimum, on that €1 m earning. Oh, and the driver still needs to eat (when not at their employer’s various workplaces) and make rent.
SteveR (@stever)
20th October 2023, 15:27
I seriously doubt drivers pay for travel, food, and lodging for away races.
Edvaldo
20th October 2023, 4:14
Teams should pay fines, drivers should get penalties.
They always seem to find a way to benefit those who have deeper pockets.
SteveP
20th October 2023, 9:53
Teams should pay fines, from their budget capped account.
Drivers get penalties as listed in a table that resembles a cash-and-carry price list:
Offence type 1: 5 points
Offence type 2: 1 point
…
Redeem the points at the end of the season or when the card reaches a specific value.
Maybe 20 points = loss of 1 WDC point (with a fallback of a financial if they don’t have a point to lose) would be suitable.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th October 2023, 7:45
I would think that if they want to introduce this level of fines for driver infringements, there really needs to be a far more solid process for review of the penalty.
I mean, sure, the stewards have started to give a bit more info on how they came to their conclusions, but it still is largely a black box. And much of it cannot even be appealed, which could lead to very unfortunate things.
Did the FIA give any indications what such fines are supposed to be for?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 12:49
@bascb That also has to include permission for drivers to independently challenge every single penalty that can get a fine, without needing permission from their teams.
No indication of what such fines are for – it’s a straightforward replacement of Article 12.6 of the International Sporting Code, which doesn’t state what the maximum fine can be issued for either.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th October 2023, 18:20
Good point about the drivers getting an option to appeal things without having to get the team on board, yeah.
Rigth, yeah, would be good if the FIA actually did give the drivers some indication of what ranges we are looking at for offences where such a fine would be applicable (a bit like sentencing guidelines giving an idea of where things are.)
Red Andy (@red-andy)
20th October 2023, 8:08
The last time I can remember the maximum fine being imposed in F1 was the infamous Ferrari team order incident at Hockenheim in 2010, back when team orders were banned. The stewards also referred the incident to the WMSC for further investigation (although no further penalty was forthcoming).
So it is fair to say that the maximum fines are going to be pretty rarely applied, and probably only in scenarios where the stewards deem that a sanction beyond what they’re able to impose is appropriate. I don’t think anyone is suggesting drivers are going to hand over a million euros for speeding in the pit lane, or even conducting a spontaneous load test on a rival’s car.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 12:51
@red-andy No – in context, it looks like the FIA wants this for crossing the track.
Zann (@zann)
20th October 2023, 8:09
FIA are turning into one of those schools that get in the news for getting too strict, carried away with power, all that punnnnishing! They should not be fining anybody. It’s a sport. But fining a superstar a million, wow, that is big time baby! How important they must be!!!
And the effect of a fine is huge or nothing, depending which driver, completely unequal, they’re just looking stupid, self promoting and greedy. Who supervises FIA?
S
20th October 2023, 8:27
The FIA does. They are the regulatory body in their field.
They also happen to be the owner of F1.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
20th October 2023, 8:28
This almost feels like a direct reaction to Hamilton crossing the track.
“You’re super-rich so we’re going to set a fine limit that would hurt anyone financially, even you.”
So what happens if Hamilton gets fined €1m for a particularly serious infraction and then Logan Sargeant does exactly the same thing at the next race? They’d have to levy the same punishment as the precedent had been set. The poor guy would be bankrupted!
S
20th October 2023, 8:57
It’s a pretty good deterrent then, isn’t it…
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
20th October 2023, 8:57
€1m is disgusting.
I was pretty unhappy with the rear wing penalty of €50k, double the average annual salary of most of the audience, for touching something felt incredibly out of touch. One million is clearly a threat to Hamilton directly for his Qatar track infringment – targeted attacks are rarely a good look for a regulator and this is another example of nonsensical boardroom thinking without stepping into the real world.
I really don’t understand why they can’t force Hamilton to do 10 1 hour road safety courses/webinars where someone gets value from him and his punishment is measured in time and effort.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 12:53
@rbalonso Because that would be too much like “community service” and doesn’t help the FIA with its expenses.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 12:54
(By the way, the FIA is allowed to levy up to 2 days of community service for a single offence, including charging the participant to travel to the location of the service. This would certainly be enough to deliver 10 road safety courses if it was done in an organised way and Lewis was being expected to follow a syllabus already in use by the FIA Foundation).
Jimmy Cliff
20th October 2023, 9:15
Something doesn’t add up when everyone in F1 says “Safety” has always the highest priority and focus:
Max touching a rear wing $50,000
Lewis crossing a live race track $25,000
Speeding in pitlane $100 per kph over limit – so doing 140km/u instead of 80km/u is just $6,000
I am always amazed how the FIA or FIFA or any of those dictatoriaal sports unions (complete monopoly) can set/make these kind of insane rules and punishments that never ever would hold up in any normal democratic court system.
Dave Allanson
21st October 2023, 9:33
F I A – Fools In Abundance! Maybe you can do better.