FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has warned F1 drivers following FIA’s ban on political statements.
Mohammad Ben Sulayem has issued a statement warning drivers about a new rule. The call is clear, the President has asked the drivers to drop the idea of using F1 weekend as a medium for personal protests and messages.
Instead, Sulayem has urged the drivers to other platforms like social media to convey their agendas. Lewis Hamilton has been a prominent figure in using the F1 race weekends for protests.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said:
“You can use sport for peace reasons but one thing we don’t want is to have the FIA as a platform for private personal agenda. We will divert from the sport. What does the driver do best? Driving. They are so good at it, and they make the business, they make the show, they are the stars. Nobody is stopping them.”
“There are other platforms to express what they want. Everybody has this and they are most welcome to go through the process of the FIA, to go through that.”
The message comes after the governing body disclosed a ban on political statements starting this season. The drivers will no longer be allowed to make any political statement or convey messages that affect the neutrality of F1 and FIA. Any exceptions in this will occur only after permission from the FIA boss is taken beforehand.
Lewis Hamilton is famous for his protests
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is rather popular when it comes to using the F1 races as a medium for protests. The Briton has a long history of using the track to convey messages to the masses.
Back in 2020, Hamilton was investigated by the officials due to his actions of wearing a t-shirt. T-shirt demanded justice for a woman allegedly murdered by a cop. It read – “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.” On the back side, it showcased a picture of the woman with “say her name” written below it.
FIA changed a few things to ensure such an act was not repeated in the future.
FIA now mandates drivers to wear their race suits up to the neck during the podium celebration and also the post-race interviews.
Is this strictness by the FIA necessary?
Stopping drivers to support or express social issues during race weekends can be a rather controversial move. Given, the nature of this rule stopping drivers to express their thoughts, it was expected that some might oppose it.
Rob Koehler, the chief executive at Global Athlete said during an interview:
“‘It is blatantly hypocritical to tell athletes to stick to their sports and stay out of politics while the FIA consistently leverage politics to their advantage.”
“Freedom of expression is a basic fundamental human right and sport rules cannot supersede human rights. Many people look up to athletes as agents of change. The example set by the FIA is that every child, youth and adult watching the sport should remain silent on social justice issues. It is simply wrong. Shame on the FIA.”
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