Up Next
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is on a collision course with Formula 1’s drivers and has created a bigger problem than the one he felt needed to be solved.
The long-awaited Grand Prix Drivers Association statement over "driver misconduct" - which is all about the Ben Sulayem-led FIA clampdown on swearing - pulls few punches.
It is quite a spectacular turn of events to see the F1 drivers' body call out Ben Sulayem specifically, rather than just target broader FIA behaviour, and publicly pose one of the most oft-repeated questions in motorsport: ‘Where do all the FIA fines really go?‘.
The swearing clampdown burst into life when Max Verstappen was given the equivalent of community service for a single curse word in an FIA press conference in Singapore in September.
It has been seen as a Ben Sulayem crusade all along, so that is nothing new in itself, but to get specifically identified by the drivers and have his own conduct put in the spotlight in the process gives him nowhere to hide. The question is whether he is capable of taking this onboard or will react in a way that escalates the matter further.
The GPDA statement cuts to the heart of the problem quite nicely. By and large, many are fine with the principle of swearing less. Some people view words as just words, others think they carry greater weight – there will probably never be a universal opinion on whether swearing is bad, or a problem, but many who think it doesn’t really matter are still fine with toning down egregious use of bad language.
The problem has been with how Ben Sulayem’s FIA has carried out his crusade. Making an example of drivers is a heavy-handed approach, and turned what could have been a well-intended policy into an unnecessary circus. Verstappen was publicly hauled over the coals for this, and responded in kind with his press conference 'protest' in Singapore. But a collective response from the body that represents all F1 drivers is a step further.
There is no doubt that the FIA president has a knack for generating controversy for himself. And while he can get defensive, as in the past when blaming the media for “convicting” him, some self-reflection is desperately needed given he is likely to remain in the role without opposition. It’s unsustainable for the FIA, for F1, and for motorsport as a whole for one individual to be in such constant conflict with its participants. Especially the most high-profile ones.
There are even some in Ben Sulayem’s organisation who disagree with his tactics, much less how he executes them, and the GPDA statement is a very public example of a very significant group taking its own issue too.
Like Verstappen in Singapore, the drivers’ association has opted to fight fire with fire. ‘You come at us publicly, we’ll come right back’. If Ben Sulayem is truly about tolerance and transparency, not just imposing his own ideals or trying to strengthen the FIA’s power base, he would do well to diffuse the situation.
But that can’t happen until, as the GPDA strongly hints, he recognises his contribution to the problem.
