Yahoo Autos F1 drivers angered by maximum fine increase to over $1m
Formula 1 drivers have voiced their anger at the FIA increasing the maximum fine it can hand out in the sport to over $1 million.
The latest meeting of the World Motor Sport Council saw the FIA amend the previous limit of €250,000 ($264,000) that is specified in the International Sporting Code (ISC) to three separate amounts. In F1 that limit has been increased to €1m ($1.06m), while in all other FIA world championships it is now €750,000 ($793,000) and in all other FIA championships, cups, trophies, challenges or series it is €500,000 ($529,000).
While the ISC also states “a Competitor shall be responsible for the payment of any fine inflicted on their Drivers, assistants, passengers, etc.,” different teams take different approaches, and George Russell warns the new total heavily exceeds what many drivers are paid in the early years of their career.
“I think it’s pretty ridiculous that a driver could be fined a million euros,” Russell said. “In my first year of Formula 1, I was on a five-figure salary, and actually lost over six figures in that first year for paying for my trainer, paying for flights, paying for an assistant, and that’s probably the case for 25% of the grid.
“We’re doing what we love, so we’re not complaining about that. But if you take a year one driver who probably by the end of the year is losing over 100,000 euros because of the investment he has to make, you fine him a million, what’s going to happen? We’ve requested before from the FIA to hear where those fines are going towards, what causes they’re going to. It needs to be reinvested into grass roots, but so far, we’ve had no response on where that’s going.
“We’d love to get some clarity and transparency, and if they truly believe a million euro fine is worthwhile, and it’s going to re-invest into the sport, then maybe one of the drivers who is being paid a lot is happy to pay that fine. But it seems obscene.”
Russell believes the FIA’s recent fine amounts have already been causing concern among the drivers.
“We just want transparency and understanding,” he said. “Already the fines are getting out of control. Verstappen being fined 50,000 euros for touching a car, Lewis [Hamilton] being fined 50,000, it feels like these numbers are being plucked out of the air.
“It doesn’t make our sport very… there’s a lot of greater global issues going on, so much poverty around the world — how a federation can just make up these fines, six figure, seven figure fines.
“I don’t know what you’d have to do to get a fine of a million euros. I don’t know of any sport or profession outside of the corporate world, what you can do to be fined that amount. As I said, for me, it sounds obscene, and there needs to be a lot more transparency to understand where these fines are going.”
Teammate Lewis Hamilton agreed, stating the only way he’s willing to accept such a fine is if it is clear with the money is going to be used.
“When it comes to things like this, we do need to be thinking about the message that sends out to those that are watching,” Hamilton said. “If they are going to be fining a million, let’s make sure 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. That’s the only way they’ll get that million from me.”
Kevin Magnussen joked he wouldn’t be able to pay such a fine, adding: “I don’t know what offense it is to be a million, but that sounds ridiculous. Charles (Leclerc) can give his watch! I would disappear, never to be found again.”
Alex Albon said the FIA is overestimating what a driver can afford to pay by raising the limit to such an amount.
“I wonder how it’s going to work out because I think there’s such an unknown knowledge about the sacrifices F1 drivers make,” Albon said. “We are quite popular people, we travel around the world a lot, we get noticed a lot, we do need a group of people around us in a lot of cases.
“But I think people wouldn’t realize especially the first two, three or four years of being a Formula 1 driver, the salaries are nothing like what people actually think they are. It would be a tough fine if you were to get into debt!
“Of course we already pay our Super License fees that are already extremely expensive. I don’t know a sport where you have to pay yourself to enter it — that in itself seems a little bit different to most sports. So in the end if they are going to raise that to a million then they are in some ways targeting three or four drivers because nobody else could actually afford that.”
