FIA leaves F1 drivers ‘stunned’ with 1 million euros fine rule

Formula One drivers were left shocked on Thursday after the sport’s governing body quadrupled the amount stewards can fine them to a maximum of one million euros/

The change to the International Sporting Code (ISC) was approved at a meeting of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council in Geneva.

So far the maximum amount a driver could pay for his mistakes on or outside the tracks was 250,000 euros had not been reviewed or adjusted for at least the last 12 years. According to FIA this ‘does not reflect the current needs of motor sport’ Mercedes’ George Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), said the new maximum “seems obscene”.

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“In my first year of Formula One (at Williams), I was on a five-figure salary and actually lost over six figures from paying for my trainer, paying for flights, paying for an assistant,” he told reporters at the U.S. Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc said he had no idea what might deserve a $1 million penalty and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, whose team have one of the smallest budgets, said it sounded ridiculous.