FIA explains why it feels driver criticism on F1 fines is overblown

The FIA has countered criticism from Formulation 1 drivers on the way it spends the cash generated by fines.

The scenario round driver fines was considered one of a number of matters that brought about unease amongst F1 drivers final season as they grew more and more pissed off at how FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem has been operating issues.

Over the 2024 season a complete of round 270,000 euros – not counting suspended fines – was generated by over 50 offences, with drivers fined for infringements like pitlane rushing, impeding, driving a automobile in an unsafe situation, crossing a stay monitor or swearing, the latter being the FIA’s newest level of focus.

Mercedes’ GPDA director George Russell was considered one of a number of drivers questioning the place the cash of the fines goes, clamouring for extra transparency from the governing physique.

“For us once we had been listening to from the FIA a few years in the past, once they had the presidential elections, they had been all about transparency,” Russell stated. “About the place the cash was going to be reinvested by way of grassroots racing, which we’re all in favour of. We simply need the transparency, an understanding of what was promised from the start.”

Talking completely to Autosport, the FIA’s head of single-seater racing Nikolas Tombazis says all cash generated by fines helps fund the FIA’s grassroots tasks and social initiatives, which noticed investments of over 10 million euros final 12 months.

“The FIA isn’t a profit-making organisation,” Tombazis stated. “We do not have shareholders who’re some numbers within the inventory change and hoping for share value to go up or get extra dividends or something like that. So all the cash is spent on what is taken into account to be useful points, whether or not it’s for security, for grassroots in motorsport, or typically different tasks that are to do with street security.

“I believe this query is usually barely influenced by the feelings of the second, of no matter effective is being mentioned and so forth. I realise that anybody who’s paying a effective is all the time barely aggravated about it and will really feel considerably aggrieved, however for certain there are such a lot of totally different ranges of tasks that I believe you’ll be able to by no means come to the conclusion that this cash is one way or the other spent for Christmas events and so forth.

“The amount of cash spent in grassroots vastly exceeds the fines amassed, which I believe signifies that something that goes in there can have a constructive impression. I believe you’ll battle to search out tasks on the FIA that do not have some motorsport grassroots or social impression.

“What I can say with absolute certainty is that fines of drivers in a single sport do not subsidise one other sport or one other class or one thing like that. However for those who have a look at different initiatives, whether or not it’s our campaigns, just like the one about on-line abuse and all of the grassroots we have been speaking about earlier than, or security tasks, I consider are noble methods of spending such cash. And this cash does contribute to that.”

Tombazis defined the FIA’s grassroots tasks are instrumental in bringing on the following technology of officers and drivers because it makes an attempt to decrease the barrier to entry at decrease ranges like go-karting.

“There’s about 10.3 million euros spent on grassroots, for a lot of golf equipment, for a lot of nations, simply to advertise a spread of tasks of early motorsport exercise, and I believe that is essential,” he stated.

“In the end, I believe the well being of Formulation 1 is basically depending on the general enchantment of motorsport. It isn’t simply having an thrilling grand prix, however it’s additionally having extra individuals who typically even do some comparatively low stage of grassroots stage of motorsport of their nation. I believe that is going to be in the end useful for Formulation 1.

“The opposite half, in fact, is so as to choose drivers for the long run, how drivers can develop into the ladder and have the chance to take action even when they’re perhaps not coming from a rich household, for instance. That’s what is in the end the important thing purpose.”