The European leg of the 2025 Formula 1 season kicks off at Imola this weekend for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where the FIA is also changing one rule that upset drivers.
F1’s governing body, the FIA, will regularly revise the championship’s regulations throughout a year to address potential issues as and when they arise. Another rule change is also on the way in three rounds’ time as the 2025 F1 season visits Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.
The FIA will enforce stricter static load tests on F1 front wings from round nine in Barcelona. It offered the 10 teams the time to create new designs if needed, as the FIA will clamp down on flexible front wings in Spain. But another change will come into effect this week at Imola.
FIA reduces the penalty for F1 drivers swearing ahead of the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola
Formula 1 drivers will no longer face the threat of a race ban for swearing in any official FIA setting after the series’ governing body shared a revised version of its penalty guidelines to stewards this Wednesday. The new rules also come into effect from the Emilia Romagna GP.
Also, the FIA has cut the fine for an F1 driver’s first swearing offence from €40,000 (£34k) to €5,000 (£4k). The base fine listed in Appendix B of the FIA’s International Sporting Code this January was €10,000 (£8.5k), yet included a multiplier based on the level of the competition.
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Drivers across multiple FIA championships, including Mercedes F1 driver George Russell, hit out at the FIA’s swearing clampdown and pleaded for changes. But David Coulthard has told GPBlog that he believes publicly lobbying for the FIA to change its rules is a waste of energy.
He said: “I would have used my energy to drive the car. It took all my energy to be the best I could. So, when I used to get asked what I thought about some new regulations, I would answer, ‘I don’t’. Cue a confused journalist who would ask, ‘What do you mean you don’t?’
“And then I would say, ‘Well, Adrian Newey thinks about the regulations. I think about the sporting regulations because I need to know where the safety car lines are and how I can exploit the sporting rules to my advantage.
“‘But technical regulations, I don’t design the car [and] I don’t have any input. I only have so much capacity operating at my hundred per cent to drive the car, so I concentrate and use my energy for that’.”
George Russell led F1 drivers in urging FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to rethink the swearing clampdown
Mercedes star Russell was one of the most vocal Formula 1 drivers who challenged the FIA’s swearing penalties. The 27-year-old, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), particularly held FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to account on the subject.
Russell also declared that ‘words don’t mean anything’ after Emirati Ben Sulayem suggested the FIA was ‘considering making improvements’ to its rules on drivers swearing in an official environment. His plea before the Miami GP has also yielded results ahead of racing at Imola.
It was not just F1 drivers who took issue with the FIA’s swearing rules, as well. A number of World Rally Championship (WRC) drivers backed Adrien Fourmaux when he was fined €10k (£8.5k), with a further €20k (£17k) suspended, for swearing after Stage 18 at Rally Sweden.
Additionally, some within the FIA were against fining F1 drivers for swearing after the initial revision. It followed the FIA ordering Max Verstappen to carry out public service and fining Charles Leclerc for swearing in official press conferences in Singapore and Mexico last year.
