FIA President dubbed a ‘dictator’ following ‘ridiculous’ rule change

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, former rally driver and president of the FIA since December 2021, recently announced a new regulation crackdown on ‘driver conduct’ for the upcoming 2025 Formula 1 season.

In these new regulations, the FIA define an offence as ‘any words, deeds or writing that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA… are more generally in the interest of motorsport and the values defended by the FIA’. This roughly translates to the drivers now being punished for criticising FIA decisions (as many had done in 2024) and swearing in press conferences.

The FIA also included a ban on ‘religious and personal statements that violate the FIA’s neutrality’

The FIA also included a ban on ‘religious and personal statements that violate the FIA’s neutrality.’ The boundaries for all of this are at the stewards’ discretion, meaning they can determine what statements constitute an offence and which do not.

A single offence will result in a €40,000 fine with this doubled to €80,000 for a repeat offender. While this is obviously fairly severe, the average F1 driver salary is approximated at $13.4m so this in itself wouldn’t massively affect most drivers on the grid. However, it’s the punishment for a third strike that has made this ruling so controversial; on top of a €120,000 fine, drivers would face a month-long race ban (likely causing them to miss multiple race weekends) and a deduction of championship points.

Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu also referred to the FIA as ‘a mess’ and disclosed that this was a common opinion across the paddock

Grievances with the FIA are not new in F1 but unrest with the body had definitely spiked towards the end of the 2024 season. George Russell, president of the Grand-Prix Drivers’ Association, publicly criticised Ben Sulayem saying that drivers were ‘fed up’ with the FIA’s leadership alongside writing a letter pleading with the body to ‘treat drivers like adults’. Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu also referred to the FIA as ‘a mess’ and disclosed that this was a common opinion across the paddock.

Predictably, drivers and fans are united in their opposition to these new regulations, with one driver rumoured to have compared Ben Sulaymen to a ‘dictator’ and many aggrieved that the driver’s association was not contacted before this ruling was passed.

Many fans have expressed their concerns that the humanity and reliability of F1 drivers will be affected following these regulations. So much of the sport’s recent spike in popularity has been birthed from the Netflix docu-series ‘Drive to Survive’ which intends to provide authentic insight into the life of the drivers. With these new rules essentially censoring what drivers can say on camera, these ‘behind-the-scenes’ cuts could be much less effective at garnering attention for the sport.

This power struggle between Formula 1’s personnel and the FIA governing body has now reached a fever pitch and rumours surrounding a breakaway effort from F1 to separate from their regulators have steadily grown in response. As of yet, the GPDA has refused to comment.