FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem suggested that new controversial guidelines, introduced this year to improve the language of pilots and avoid swears could be modified.
Pilots can be inflicted on heavy fines, racing suspension, or even losing points in the championship, under a new “Annex B” of the FIA International Sports Code, published this year to help the commissioners to determine the sanctions in the event of violation of certain rules.
The two most relevant rules in Formula 1 and in other world championships in recent times concern competitors causing “Moral prejudice or loss to the FIA, its organs, its members or its leaders”as well as all “bad behavior”.
Max Verstappen suggested that these two rules were behind his refusal to comment on the penalty he received during the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia.
The pilots found guilty of having violated these rules in 2025 expose themselves to a fine from the first offense, then to aggravated fines and sports sanctions from the second or third offense over a period of two years.
A multiplier is applied according to the level of the championship: F1 pilots are inflicted a fines quadrupled, or € 40,000 for a single offense of “bad behavior”, € 80,000 plus a suspended suspension of a month for a second offense, and € 120,000 plus a suspension of one month and a deduction of points in the championship for a third offense.
In theory, this meant that an F1 pilot having sworn three times at a press conference on two seasons could be suspended, lose points in the championship and be inflicted a fine of € 120,000!
Ben Sulayem and the FIA argued that the implementation of these guidelines aimed to help the commissioners apply the existing rules and that their publication responded to a desire for increased transparency. It was also pointed out that the directives were only limited to this, and that the commissioners could always be discreet.
But the implementation of Appendix B took many pilots, in F1 as in other championships, and a first controversy concerning these rules led the pilots of the World rally Championship to create their own association (Worda) like that of F1 pilots, the Grand Prix Drivers Association, to oppose new sanctions.
In F1, the pilots discussed the directives with the FIA representatives at length during the opening race of the season in Australia, which ended with a reasonable agreement between the two parties. The pilots were explained that the evaluation of offenses would be summed up with the question of whether the incident occurred in a controlled or not environment; that radio communications by car in the heat of the action will only be sanctioned if they violate the well -established rules concerning the insulting language towards officials or discriminatory language, but that the pilots will be required to demonstrate more restraint during interviews in closed park and FIA press conferences.
In WRC, a similar consensus has been reached. Some have already interpreted this as a decline in the FIA, which deviates from its zero tolerance policy, realizing that it would be too severe. Especially since last year, questioned about a critical letter from the GPDA calling the FIA to treat pilots as adults, Ben Sulayem said that “It didn’t look at them”.
But the ruling body arose that what is currently in Appendix B would never constitute a zero tolerance policy, with draconian sanctions permanently.
Thus Ben Sulayem published this Monday evening on Instagram on Monday evening that “improvements” could be made to Annex B. He did not specify a calendar or guarantee of modification of the formulation, but it seems that the subject is being developed and that the FIA should soon provide more details.
“Following the constructive feedback from the pilots of our seven FIA world championships, I plan to make improvements to Annex B.”
“As a former rally pilot, I understand better than anyone the requirements they face.”
“Annex B is a key element of the international sports code and plays an essential role in maintaining sport accessibility to our whole sports family. It is humans who establish rules and humans can improve them.”
“This principle of continuous improvement is one thing that I have always believed in and that is at the heart of everything we do at FIA.”
