FIA responds to George Russell’s criticism with ‘Christmas party’ jibe over F1 fines
FIA single-seaters director Nikolas Tombazis responded to George Russell's demands for transparency over fines in F1.
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George Russell (via IMAGO)
The FIA had a fallout with F1 drivers in 2024. The swearing ban implemented by President Mohammed Ben Sulayem became a major point of contention. Moreover, drivers, such as George Russell were unhappy with the enormous fine amounts imposed by the governing body. FIA single-seaters director, Nikolas Tombazis has now responded to such comments.
George Russell who heads the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, had spoken out on huge fines imposed on drivers. The British driver demanded transparency on how such funds were used once a driver had paid the said amount. He had even mentioned that the maximum fine limit of $1 million could be detrimental to a rookie driver on base salary.
Nikolas Tombazis acknowledged that a driver would be annoyed when they have to a pay a fine. The FIA Director pointed out that there are a lot of activities behind the scenes where such funds are used. As such, no one should come to a conclusion that the funds are used for Christmas parties for the FIA. Fines are usually used to support grassroot level activities
I realize that anyone who is paying a fine is always slightly annoyed about it and may feel somewhat aggrieved, but for sure there are so many different levels of projects that you can never come to the conclusion that this money is somehow spent for Christmas parties and so on.
Nikolas Tombazis told Motorsport.com
FIA not looking to please shareholders
Nikolas Tombazis highlighted that the sports governing body is a non-profit organization. As such, it has no interest in trying to increase a stock price to keep shareholders happy. Tombazis emphasized that the FIA functioned independently and was not driven by any commercial interests.
The FIA is not a profit-making organization. We don’t have shareholders who are looking at some numbers in the stock exchange and hoping for share price to go up or get more dividends or anything like that. So all the money is spent on what is considered to be beneficial aspects.
Nikolas Tombazis added
Certainly, George Russell and the rest of the grid will continue to ask questions in 2025. Drivers are simply not happy with their current relationship with the FIA. The sports governing body might need to soften its stance this year to avoid any escalations in the coming months.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2312 Articles Published)