GPDA call out FIA President

Since being elected, Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s time as FIA President has been dogged with controversy. Thus, it was not at all surprising to see the Grand Prix Driver’s Association (GPDA) open letter posted on Instagram this week criticizing his leadership. The GPDA, Chaired by former F1 driver Alexander Wurz and Directed by Mercedes driver George Russell and four time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel, touched on a variety of grievances in the statement, including the most recent controversy surrounding the punishment of drivers Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc for swearing in FIA press conferences. Leclerc received a €10,000 fine while Verstappen was ordered to complete community service, which he protested against by refusing to give full answers to media questions at the following FIA press conference. The GPDA’s letter also highlights the FIA banning drivers in 2022 from wearing jewelry, as well as reminding driver’s to wear appropriate underwear while racing, addressing it by stating that the drivers are “adults”, and that, “they do not need to be given instructions via the media about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery or underpants.” The GPDA also urged the FIA President to “consider his own tone and language” in the media, after he implied that the decision to ban drivers from wearing jewelry was to “differentiate between our sport – motorsport – and rap music”. Lewis Hamilton took issue with this sentiment, calling out Ben Sulayem for using clearly stereotypical racist language. Even just this past week, Ben Sulayem made another blunder by publicly congratulating Donald Trump on being re-elected as President of the United States, while previously banning F1 drivers from making political statements. With the release of this letter, it is clear that the unrest among drivers towards the FlA President is building, and it will be interesting to see what happens next year when Ben Sulayem, who has yet to comment on the letter, is up for re-election.