MoBen Sulayem,hammed president of the FIA, has made an effort to defend the decision to quadruple the maximum penalty in Formula 1. In the event that a driver is found guilty of a serious offense, they may now face fines of up to €1 million (£870,000). However, specifics regarding the kind of incident that would result in such an enormous fine have not been disclosed.
The maximum penalty was raised from €250,000 to €500,000, as announced by the FIA World Motor Sport Council last month. Speaking out on the issue, a number of drivers expressed confusion over the circumstances that would support such a fine.
The swift increase in the maximum fine was met with criticism and calls for “obscene” behavior from some drivers who felt that the amount was now out of date. Ben Sulayem has made an effort to clarify the organization’s reasoning for the rule change, though.
“Everything has become more expensive,” he said to Speedcafe. The teams are now arguing about valuations in the billions, and our rules from Jurassic Park are still not well-developed.
“We are not saying ‘go and pay’. We are saying ‘Don’t make these unnecessary penalties’. If you don’t do it, you won’t get it. Nobody will impose something on you if you follow the rules. The rules are there to be policed and to be implemented.”
Ben Sulayem was then asked about what would prompt the FIA to hand out a €1m fine, though the chief felt that only stewards would be able to truly answer that question. Lewis Hamilton made it clear after the rule change was announced that he would only ever pay such a significant fee to the FIA if he felt that the funds would be put to good use – otherwise, he would not pay the maximum penalty.
