F1 drivers who swear could be fined €80,000, say new FIA rules

The FIA has issued a series of stewards’ penalty guidelines that could result in Formula 1 drivers collecting fines or championship points penalties for swearing or other sporting code violations. These are an extension of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s contentious call last season for F1 drivers to limit their use of profanity. 

The FIA released an updated version of its sporting code on Wednesday with a guidelines for infractions committed under Article 12, particularly with regards to misconduct.

The governing body defines misconduct as “the general use of language (written or verbal), gesture and/or sign that is offensive, insulting, coarse, rude or abusive and might reasonably be expected or be perceived to be coarse or rude or to cause offense, humiliation or to be inappropriate”, “assaulting (elbowing, kicking, punching, hitting, etc.)”, and “incitement to do any of the above”.

These guidelines also include base fines, which are multiplied by four for F1 drivers.

Committing an infraction within the bounds of misconduct includes a €10,000 base fine for the first offence – which becomes €40,000 for an F1 driver, rising to a base €20,000 fine (€80,000 in F1) and a suspended one-month suspension on the second offence.

A further instance involves a fine of €30,000 (€120,000 in F1) with “1-month suspension plus deduction of Championship points”.

Similar penalties will be granted for “any words, deeds or writings that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA, its bodies, its members or its executive officers, and more generally on the interest of motor sport and on the values defended by the FIA” and “any public incitement to violence or hatred”.

The FIA has also retained the same fines for “the general making and display of political, religious and personal statements or comments notably in violation of the general principle of neutrality promoted by the FIA under its Statutes, unless previously approved in writing by the FIA for International Competitions, or by the relevant ASN for National Competitions within their jurisdiction”, while mandating that drivers make a full public apology for their remarks and retraction of their comments.

Further to this, harsher penalties will be levied for any “failure to comply with the instructions of the FIA regarding the appointment and participation of persons during official ceremonies at any Competition counting towards a FIA Championship”.

This starts at a €15,000 fine, with a €30,000 fine for another offence, plus “suspension of access to Reserved Area(s) of the event for the next event” — which can include everything from the track, paddock, parc ferme, and media zones.

Further failing to comply with ceremony instructions will receive a €45,000 fine plus a six-month suspension from the defined reserved areas — again, all fines again multiplied by four for F1 drivers.

In other world championships — for example, the World Rally Championship and World Endurance Championship — these base fines have a multiplier of three, while FIA regional championships get a multiplier of two. Other series outside of those defined (e.g., national F4 championships) receive the base fines.

The International Sporting Code has also received additional clauses, including infractions for any failures to commit to the environmental guidelines set by the governing body.

There are also further additions for inadmissible protests; a protest will now require individual applications for each subject. The sporting code also dictates that “any protest against a stewards’ decision will be inadmissible”.