The FIA did not consulate with the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association [GPDA] before issuing new stewards’ guidelines and punishments for the 2025 motor racing season.

The FIA, motorsport’s governing body, courted controversy last season when FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem called for a blanket ban on drivers swearing, declaring F1 should “differentiate between our sport – motorsport – and rap music”.

GPDA learned of swearing ban ‘through the media’

Lewis Hamilton called him out for “stereotypical” language with a “racial element” while the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association sent a strongly worded letter that pointed out the drivers are “adults”.

However, Ben Sulayem and his FIA doubled down on it earlier this month as new stewards’ guidelines were issued ahead of motor racing’s 2025 season.

Included on the list was ‘any misconduct’ which as per Article 12.2.1l incorporates the ‘the general use of language (written or verbal), gesture and/or sign that is offensive, insulting, coarse, rude or abusive and might reasonably be expected or be perceived to be coarse or rude or to cause offence, humiliation or to be inappropriate’.

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Therefore any F1 driver swearing in an FIA press conference, as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc did late last season, will be hit with a €40,000 for a first offence. That will increase to €80,000 ‘plus 1-month suspension’ for a second while a third comes with a fine of €120,000 ‘plus 1-month suspension’ and a ‘deduction of Championship points’.

A driver could lose a championship title because they dropped a few F-bomb.

Not only did the FIA not discuss this with the F1 drivers, but according to Alex Wurz, the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, they only heard about it when the FIA released the guidelines to the media.

“No, there was no consultation,” the Austrian said as per RacingNews365. “We have read that through the media.

“Could be room for improvement that we [the FIA and the GPDA] are working out [these things] together.

“If there’s a comparison with, for example, the NFL in America, they do have unionisation of NFL players, and they are involved in the process.

“In this case, we are not involved. I’m not sure if the FIA has involved their own FIA drivers’ commission. That’s something I don’t know about.

“Let’s hope that we don’t have many fines being collected.”

Although Verstappen did not publicly comment on the FIA’s punishments, his F1 team, Red Bull, made their thoughts known in a cheeky response on social media.

A post on the team’s official Threads account featured an image from Verstappen’s impromptu media session in the Singapore GP paddock after he was punishment for saying “f***ed” in a press conference, with an emoji of a face holding a finger to its lips and the accompanying caption: “If we speak…”

The caption is a reference to a famous internet clip of Jose Mourinho, the former Chelsea football manager who saw two of his players sent off in a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa in 2014.

In the full clip, when asked about the referee Mourinho says: “I prefer really not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble. In big trouble. And I don’t want to be in big trouble.”

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