FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has urged stewards to use new powers to penalise competitors who make negative comments about the sport’s officials.
Ben Sulayem said the FIA is making another revision to the International Sporting Code’s regulations on “misconduct”, which were previously updated in December. In a social media post Ben Sulayem said the latest change had been made in response to research conducted by the FIA’s United Against Online Abuse campaign.
“As part of our ongoing fight against online abuse, recent investigations have shown that there is a direct link between negative comments from drivers and team members and increased hate directed towards officials on social media,” he said.
“At the last World Motor Sport Council, members approved a change to the definition of misconduct within the ISC following incidents in which high profile members of our sport have made statements towards officials that incite abuse. This change will ensure further support for the FIA officials and volunteers who dedicate their time to improving our sport, keeping it safe and fair.”
The last revision to the ISC’s “misconduct” clause came after the stewards used it to penalise Sergio Perez for criticising them at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Perez had remarked “the stewards are a joke” on his radio in reaction to the five-second time penalty he received for colliding with Lando Norris in the race.
The revised clause has since been used to penalise Yuki Tsunoda for using offensive language on his radio when he was held up by rival drivers in the pits during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. He was fined €40,000 (£33,900), half of which was suspended.
Although Tsunoda’s comments were not directed at officials, other drivers and team members have criticised them and their decisions in recent years, and sometimes attracted penalties.
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Perez’s Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was given a formal warning in 2021 for blaming a “rogue marshal” when Max Verstappen was penalised for failing to slow for double waved yellow flags. Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was fined for insulting stewards in 2019 and reprimanded over a similar incident in 2023.
Fernando Alonso called the Miami Grand Prix stewards ‘incompetent and unprofessional’ in 2022 and this year alleged FIA officials are more likely to give penalties to Spanish drivers than other…
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