FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem hits back at GDPA's letter calling for F1 drivers to be treated like adults
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, has hot back at the Grand Prix Drivers' Association's letter calling for drivers to be treated like adults.
The past few weeks have been problematic for the FIA after a string of controversial decisions, including ordering Verstappen to serve community work due to saying the word 'f***ed' during a press conference.
Prior to the Las Vegas Grand Prix, all 20 F1 drivers united as they released a statement under the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers Association) to voice their concerns over the sport's governing body, the FIA.
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It read: "With regards to swearing, there is a difference between swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as a Formula 1 car, or a driving situation.
"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 jewelry and underpants."
Now, FIA boss Ben Sulayem has responded to the letter penned by the GDPA.
As reported by Motosport.com, he said: "None of their business. Sorry. With all respect, I am a driver. I respect the drivers. Let them go and concentrate on what they do best, which is race.
"But okay, you want to know how much we paid in grassroots? I'll give you - 10.3million [euros] we invested in grassroots last year. I think that's a lot of money. In '24, up to now, over 10million. Back in grassroots, in karting."
Ben Sulayem added: "This is our business. We'll do whatever is good for the FIA. So it's really none of people's business to interfere in ours. It's the results that we produce. Do we have to tell them? When something in the teams changes, do they tell us? No, they don't. Nobody has to.
"We have the rules, we follow our rules. We don't follow someone else's rule. Simple as this. Why do I have to answer everything? I have a responsibility towards my members and towards the sport. I'm not a person who will go and wake up in the morning, go and look at the media. The media are good, but they don't have votes in the FIA.
"I have been elected to fix the FIA, and I am fixing it. I am very happy with our new team. Very happy."
Marcus Chan