Formula 1 drivers believe “common sense prevailed” after receiving clarification about how the FIA intends to police swearing this year.
There was widespread concern at the start of 2025 about what an update to the FIA’s International Sporting Code for this year, covering penalty guidelines for stewards, would mean for punishing drivers for swearing at F1 races.
A combination of the principle of the clampdown, the apparent black-and-white nature of it, and the extent of the fines was behind drivers reacting badly to the news.
It was therefore seen as another controversial implementation at the behest of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, and a new potential flashpoint between his organisation and F1 drivers after a high-profile swearing saga involving Max Verstappen last year, and a subsequent case involving Charles Leclerc, too.
This also led to action in the World Rally Championship, as that ended up being the first litmus test for the updated ISC when Hyundai WRC driver Adrien Fourmaux was fined $30,000 ($20,000 of which was suspended) for swearing at a stage-end interview.
The Australia meeting
F1 drivers had previously been frustrated by the lack of consultation over the matter. It was discussed at length in the drivers' briefing on Friday night at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Chairman of the stewards Garry Connelly spoke to the drivers, which the FIA felt offered drivers the clarification they were looking for.
New Grand Prix Drivers Association director Carlos Sainz said: “Gary was incredibly helpful in trying to explain to us the way the FIA was going to approach the situation.
“I really appreciate common sense and this time I must say common sense prevailed.
“For me it was very clear, very understandable and we can hopefully move on from that.”
It is understood that Connelly explained how it would come down to whether an incident occurs with a controlled environment or not. In-car radio communications in the heat of the moment will not be punished unless they breach the well-established rules on abusive language towards officials, or ableist/discriminatory language.
When drivers are out of the car, the FIA feels there should be greater capacity for drivers to control their emotions to the point of not swearing. This includes parc ferme interviews and FIA press conference - anywhere there is a global feed.
Some have interpreted the brief as a climbdown from the FIA, stepping back from a zero-tolerance policy because it has realised that would be too heavy-handed. But the governing body feels it is a case of just enforcing what’s always been in the regulations and that was always the only intention - pointing to the fact that what has been issued were only ever “guidelines”.
“Honestly, it was a quite fair discussion that we had, very open,” said Esteban Ocon.
“And the FIA are not there to punish us for no reason. So if in the heat of the moment some bad words come between engineering and ourselves, that will be OK.
“But obviously, if you insult someone, that's a different case. But that's normal.
“We have to behave. We are on air all the time, live TV. It's important for us to be models for the younger generation.
“From what we had in Melbourne, the discussion, I think we were all quite scared before. I think now it's quite clear, and I think it's quite fair the discussion we had.”
Mitigating factors
Any “misconduct”, which includes swearing, can for an F1 driver carry a penalty of €40,000 on first offence, €80,000 on second offence within a two-year period plus a suspended one-month suspension, and €120,000 on third offence within a two-year period plus an actual one-month suspension and a deduction of an unspecified amount of championship points.
The size of the fine is established by ‘multipliers’ applied to a base level of fine depending on the standing of the championship - with F1 assessed the highest 'multiplier' of four.
Some drivers raised the point that while a €40k fine for a first offence is not necessarily a lot for them, the proposed sums would be more than cumbersome for young drivers. In response, there was a suggestion that the punishments will be discretionary.
That implies a difference based on the driver and the situation – for example, an experienced, older driver who speaks very good English and still swears needlessly, would be viewed different to a young driver speaking in a second language.
A monetary fine might be appropriate in one case but an educational course might be better in another. The Fourmaux incident in the WRC was already an example of how the stewards can still apply discretion. There, the Rally Sweden stewards took into account multiple mitigating factors including Fourmaux’s good previous record, the fact he was speaking his second language and his apology for the language - which is why $20,000 of the fine was suspended for the next 12 months.
Pierre Gasly indicated he still felt the fines “feel a bit harsh” and “it doesn’t feel really needed” but agreed that the Melbourne meeting had offered clarity. The Frenchman also said it was important to take into account what it is like for drivers whose primary language is not English.
“We're professional, we want to be respectful, we are role models, and we’ve got to live up to these standards and use some common sense – that's completely understandable,” said Gasly.
“At the same time, I do feel it's not always easy when you don't speak your mother language. I’m French, I learned English, speak English, but I'm not at ease as much as I do when I'm French.
“I always relate to Yuki [Tsunoda, Gasly’s former team-mate]. I got very offended more than once when we were team-mates together with the names he used to call me! But then I figured out it's just that he didn't have the vocabulary for it. He didn't mean to be rude.
“It's just understanding that for some people, you don't always mean exactly what you say when you don't speak your language.”
Case closed in F1?
Soon after the Fourmaux incident on Rally Sweden, the WRC drivers announced the formation of their equivalent of the Grand Prix Drivers Association.
They have made public statements requesting a change in stance from the FIA over the swearing clampdown and have even started protesting in the form of refusing to speak in stage-end interviews, other than in their native language and/or to explain why.
The saga is clearly ongoing in that championship. However, the stance from several F1 drivers in China indicated the matter had reached an acceptable compromise for now.
“I don't know what the World Rally guys had, probably very different answers to their questions, and that's probably why they're not happy,” said Ocon.
“But on our side, in Formula 1, it's much more clear now and quite fair.”
GPDA director George Russell said that drivers now had “more clarity” than before “which ultimately is all we ever asked for”.
He pointed out, though, that it had come from the stewards and “certain individuals within the FIA who I don't think anybody's ever had issues with”, which likely means underlying issues with the approach taken by Ben Sulayem remain.
On the swearing saga, specifically, though, Russell echoed Ocon's sentiment that the primary fears had been allayed for now.
“Of course, when there are these major penalties overhanging or could be deployed at any point, certain people are a little bit nervous about that,” Russell said.
“But I think we all do feel more at ease after the conversations in Melbourne.”
