Last Updated on January 23 2025, 10:34 am
The Formula One drivers over the years have had their moments of protest against the sport’s governing body, yet during the first two decades of F1 it was mostly the teams who found themselves in dispute with the authorities, over matters like prize purses.
Come the 1970’s and Jackie Steward galvanised a number of his co-competitors to campaign for driver safety as the certainty of death for a Grand Prix racer ran between 10-15% each year. Over that decade many of the obvious and critically dangerous practices were replaced and so the drivers’ protests turned their attention to the way in which they were being treated.
Ahead of the 1982 South African Grand Prix, Niki Lauda and Didier Pironi gathered the F1 drivers for what was to become a giant sleep-over. The governing body at the time had introduced a clause to the F1 drivers’ super licenses which could have tied a driver for up to three years to s single team.
Foundations of the GPDA
The 30 man strong threat to refusal to race saw FISA cave in and subsequently remove offending clause. The original Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) was formed in 1961, although it never really bared its teeth and fell into disrepute.
Ironically, ahead of the 1994 San Marino GP, Ayrton Senna proposed reviving the organisation in opposition to the lack of voice the drivers had over their sport of F1. Both Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed that weekend, but by the time the F1 circus rolled into Monaco.
During the glitz and glamour of the French Riviera location for a Formula One race, Niki Lauda , Christian Fitipaldi, Michael Schumacher and Gerhard Berger re-established the GPDA with assistance from Martin Brundle. FIA president ax Mosely opposed the union style group claiming they were opposed to the aims of his organisation.
Given the competitive nature of the F1 drivers together with the fact there’s always varying degrees of tension between between certain individuals and this explains the reasons that over the years, the GPDA could hardly be described as a militant force.
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In 2005 the drivers were dragged into the Indianapolis saga where just six competitors lined up for the start, due to the Michelin competitors having tyres that would explode under pressure on the banking section of the circuit.
Following the debacle at the 2014 Japanese GP which led to the death of Jules Bianchi, once again the drivers gathered to demand improved safety from the FIA. The rocket assaults on the city of Jeday in 2022 once again saw the GPDA in unison the drivers would boycott the rest of the weekend unless certain guarantees were offered.
Following the acquisition of the commercial rights to F1, the GPDA took the unusual stance of sending a collective letter to the American owners, encouraging them to revise F1’s rule book with a view to encouraging closer racing. What followed were attempts to level the playing field further with engine freezes new aero design regulations for 2022 and finally the biggest changes in F1 history coming in 2026.
Last year, the GPDA once again found unanimous agreement around a number of issues that have been bubbling away since the election of the the current FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem back in December 2021. Having sanctioned Lewis Hamilton for failing to attend the mandated FIA gala as one of his first tasks, Ben Sulayem set about tightening up what he saw were drivers flagrantly ignoring the rules.
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First up was jewellery. Ben Sulayem instructed the F1 stewards to take the regulations seriously which had been in place for some years to ensure drivers were not wearing jewellery whilst in the cockpit of the car. Of course Lewis Hamilton famed for his Bling Bling appearance took umbrage and a war of words and handbags at dawn ensued between Mercedes – who were fined – and the FIA who were forced to accept a sick note from Hamilton claiming the removal of his nose pin required an external medical procedure.
Underwear was also under the microscope at that time. Certain drivers were wearing lucky – but unapproved – fireproof underwear, and according to Be Sulayem, this to had to stop.
Last season the penalty favoured by the stewards was an in race ten second time penalty, this was upped from five seconds which had previously been the standard. The drivers didn’t complain about this severe increase in punishment too much, given the examples of their contingent having been given five second penalties which have served little purpose are many (Lewis Hamilton, Silverstone 2021).
Yet the F1 drivers have been campaigning for some time, for financial penalties for breaches of the regulations to be dropped. They believe it belittles the drivers and further argue the monies collected are not visibly put towards causes the drivers believe in.
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“The GPDA has, on countless occasions, expressed its view that driver monetary fines are not appropriate for our sport,” they continued. “For the past three years, we have called upon the FIA president to share the details and strategy regarding how the FIA’s financial fines are allocated and where the funds are spent,” read their statement. The drivers continued expressing in no uncertain terms their disgust at the current treatment they were.
“We urge the FIA president to also consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them, whether in a public forum or otherwise. Further, our members are adults, they do not need to be given instructions via the media, about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery and underpants,” read the conclusion of what was a curt response to recent events.
The response of the FIA appears to be doubling down on the driver punishments rather than easing their concerns as new penalty guidelines for various transgressions this season have now been issued to the race stewards.
Five specific items are listed in the new document, outlining the prescribed penalties for beaches of various entries in Article 12.2.1 of the ISC – specifically subsections f), l), n), o) and p). So for example, “causing moral injury or loss to the FIA” or its officials” – a breach of subsection f) – now carries a prescribed first offence penalty of €10,000.
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F1 driver penalties increased by a factor of 4
The same penalty structure now applies to “any public incitement to violence or hatred” as well as “any misconduct” as defined by Article 20 (“Definitions’) of the ISC. This will include but is not limited to, “the general use of language that is offensive, insulting, coarse, rude or abusive” and acts of “assaulting” and “incitement” to acts that fall into either of the two previous categories.
This includes swearing, suggesting an official has behaved in an unfair fashion and a host of catch all matters the FIA can now punish. Further for F1 all baseline penalties must be multiplied by at least four, so this now becomes a minimum of €40,000. Further, three strikes and the FIA can issue a deriver with a ONE MONTH BAN.
Charles Leclerc was fined €10,000 for swearing in Baku, this would now be four times that amount and as yet the FIA offers no explanation to how the fines are spent. It appears Mohamed ben Sulayem’s FIA will continue to rule with an iron fist and refuse all attempts at collaboration.
Clearly this will not go down well with the drivers and with the GPDA finally in some kind of militant mindset, there may be ructions before the season opener in Melbourne just two months away.
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Yuki Tsunoda will be the first F1 driver sacked this season says 1997 Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve. The Japanese driver is entering his fifth season in F1 for the Red Bull sister team and will connote alongside rookie Isack Hadjar.
“Tsunoda will be the first driver to leave the grid,” Villeneuve told the Action Network. “He’s only there because of Honda. At some point this will stop.” Liam Lawson being promoted ahead of Tsunoda despite the New Zealander’s relative ack of experience was a surprise to many senior paddock observers but both Dr. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner were on hand to explain the decision.
“In terms of speed, Tsunoda is definitely the faster of the two at the moment,” Dr, Marko told Bild Sport., but noted “he lacks the necessary consistency and continues to make mistakes.” Marko admitted Red Bull were concerned Tsunoda “slows down and loses his composure” when he gets rattled. “His outbursts of anger have improved considerably but remain an issue,” said Marko. “He loses control.”… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
