P1 with Matt and Tommy - The FIA have announced new rules that could ruin F1…

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

The FIA have announced some truly baffling rule changes that will attempt to govern what the drivers can and can't say, any swearing and a hundred other seemingly nonsensical things. We're here with our reaction to more alarming governance from the FIA who, in a desperate bid to not be called idiots anymore, seem to have taken their idiocy to new heights. Sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to extended versions of every Race Review podcast, every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. We are here to discuss some things that have been going on with the FIA. I mean, shock. I'll be surprised. It's literally January. We haven't even started racing and we're already discussing the clown show that's currently going on at the FIA. Tommy, are you riled up right now?

Are you ready to pop off? I think it's going to be a rantee podcast, yeah, because it's just the fact that like you say, it's January, we've only just not even started the season yet, and they're already being ridiculous is quite insane, really. So if you've been living under a rock, or to be fair, it's January, right? Like, we both saw this quite late. So that's why we're doing a podcast today rather than yesterday.

Essentially, there's been a, I would say crazy, crazy new FIA guidelines on essentially drivers' misconduct. Right? So, of course, we had the whole Max Verstappen swearing saga, and it was a bit of a head-to-head, but nothing really came of it apart from him being told to do community service. And then I think Hamilton was like, well, I wouldn't do it. And it just sort of, it felt like at least from the outside,

not a lot really happened after that. However, 2025 starts. And the FIA come out with some actual pretty much regulations on what you can and can't do. Can you can't do or say, yeah. So a quick summary of these guidelines, right? So you've got different sections. but essentially don't go after the FIA, don't be mean about them,

don't call them stupid idiots, etc, etc. Otherwise, you will get offences. The first offence, it says here is 10,000 euros, but I believe for Formula One drivers, it's times to buy four. This is essentially guidelines,

I think, across everything. Yeah, anyway, cash. That's essentially what they're after here in some ways. So the first offence, 40,000 euros is my understanding. The second offence would be 20,000 times four, so 80,000 euros. plus a one month suspension, which is suspended.

So it's essentially their final warning of, don't do it again, otherwise you are going to be banned for a month. You do it a third time. It's 120,000 euro fine, a one month suspension and deduction of championship points. So is Max Verstappen going to be on minus 20 points come the third round of the season? What a world we live in that, you know,

I've had these amazing Titanic championship battles through the years and all these amazing stories of how it's been won on the circuit. And now we're going into 2025 where I think it could be incredibly close. And then it's like, oh, Max, what was the key moment where you lost the championship? Oh, it's when I called the FIA a bunch of beeps and got a ban. And that's where I lost the championship. One insane thing. And there's more as well.

this isn't even just, you know, it's the same process of like first, second, third offence, but there's more of like misconduct political statements and stuff. So, you know, it goes into religious and personal statements that are violating FIA's neutrality, which, I mean, if we throw back to 2020, yeah, the COVID calendar, and of course we had the, you know, the drivers taking the knee before the race. Do that three races. You're getting a month ban. Mental.

This genuinely, and I don't think we're going too far with this, this could ruin Formula One in a lot of ways, with this essentially power struggle. The FIA are trying to very much dictate exactly what they want to do with the sport. And I see this. I genuinely see that this will be an all-out brawl now between Formula One, the drivers and the FIA. It's got worse.

It's got... Rather than some kind of understanding from Mohammed Ben-Sulaym and the team at FIA of... Yeah, fair enough. Formula One is probably the most high-octane adrenaline-filled sport in the world. Sometimes drivers are going to swear

to, well, now actually, we run the sport and you will adhere to our rules, otherwise this is going to happen. It's a trigger from the statement as well, right? Surely the statement from the GPDA that basically said, you need to watch your own language, FAA president, and why don't you worry about yourself?

Because we're grown-ups here. And rather than them responding and trying to work something out, the FAA have essentially kind of gone, don't talk or you'll be banned. It's so dictatorship-y. It's crazy. My concern is it's going to take the emotion, out of the sport, like the raw emotion that we see from drivers.

I'm not saying that they should be throwing F bombs left, right and centre. That's not it. And I think we all are agreed that they shouldn't just be swearing for the sake of it. But, you know, post-race or you're in the press conference. And I don't know, it's just, it's like swearing. It's like, it's not that deep, in my opinion. The Charlotte Claire thing is a great example where I think it's very easy to think. when, you know, certain cultures and countries that you live in

where maybe swearing is more of a thing. But there are also other parts of the world where it's really not much for an issue. And, you know, they swear on national TV and it's not made this big thing like it is in a certain other place in the world. So the drivers and that their use of their language and stuff, there's one, a lot of them are speaking a language that's not their first language anyway. so why should are we really going to see a driver ban for accidentally

you know say they've sworn twice and then they go oh that was a bit of a S race oh no oh sorry I didn't mean and it's genuinely like a mistake because that's how they talk normally when they're speaking English that's not their first language and then how is that worthy

of a month ban and deduction of points let's say Charlotte Claire as an example here he wins the world championship by three points the final race of the season against Lewis Hamilton in an interview

drops a little God I'm just so effing happy and then that's it four points deducted Lewis Hampton Champion of the World We need to do live watch along for press conferences just in case it changes

We actually do This is really I cannot Any other sport right Like Formula 1 drivers are put under a huge amount of scrutiny They're always under the spotlight

And they always have a microphone to their mouth even in the car. Like, you don't have that with many sports at all. You don't get to hear live reactions. And especially in Formula One where it's so intense. It's such an intense sport. And then just throwing this in here.

It just, Formula One drivers, I would say, are pretty well PR trained anyway. They throw this in here. You're not going to see much personality because they're going to be scared to say anything that could be deemed as a bit bantery or a bit. George Russell Maxa Stepan thing was the most exciting kind of war of words between drivers we've seen in about 20 years because they actually showed personalities. They threw their PR rulebooks out the window and said, yeah, let's have some beef with each other and say what we really think. And actually, yeah, this is just going to get to the point where they're trying to control these drivers. And it's so ironic.

And I know it's not the FIA that ran this series, but the growth of Drive to Survive and Formula One. And, you know, you take the swearing side out of that, which it was very kind of non-P-G from that side and the swearing. And, you know, Gunther getting really famous because of all his swearing and how it exploded. Yeah, how it exploded Formula One. And this is how this sport has grown massively from that personality side. And they're like, no, we want to put you in a box now and behave like little schoolchildren. And like not even behave like schoolchildren, like go back to like 1920s boarding school. all stand in the line together and don't speak.

I'll tell you what, the intro that Daniel Ricardo did of Netflix are a real bunch of sea bombs, aren't they? If you change that to Daniel Ricardo going, Netflix are a real bunch of silly billies, aren't they? It's not making the cut. No one will care about that. Why are we all pretending like we don't swear? Why is this such a horrible thing to do? Oh, they're role models, they're this, that and the other.

Put things in place to not showcase this then. If it's that much of a problem, I just go get it. You joke, I can actually see Max because he's such a sarcastic individual that the first incident he has, he goes, something like, oh, I'm so flipping annoyed by this. What an absolute kerfuffle, absolutely so silly. Sorry, flipping, mate, that's a breach. That's far too. That's getting on offensive there, mate, to be honest with you. So what this also kind of says is you cannot really question the FIA.

You can't even just say like, I think that was a ridiculous. decision. Is a ridiculous decision inciting hate and harmful things? Is, is, is, where's the line? Where do we draw the line with this? Anyway, we've popped off. This was the first thoughts, right? We've got questions as well. So let's go into them. P1PATry member Michaela asks, why on earth would this ever be a good idea for the FIA? Well, I think it's quite clear that the route in which the FIA are going right now and the fact that they've changed the ways of, you know, in which people can be hired and taking control of the FIA. It's, as Tommy you said earlier, very dictatory, very, we are in charge and we will be in

charge forever. Very concerning, to say the least. But this is a power struggle. There's no two ways about it. This is the FIA doubling down and saying, well, what are you going to do about it? And I think we spoke about this last year, didn't we, Tommy, of, well, why don't Formula One and the drivers just break away? Now it becomes an actual real thing, in my opinion.

where they are putting letters to the law of you can and cannot do this, does Formula One, do the drivers say, well, you can't run a sport if there's no one here? Yeah, exactly. This is what it is. It's not, you know, do they, it doesn't really matter if the FA think it's a good idea or not. It's their way of going, we control you. And the FAA are probably, you know, they have been embarrassed by Max Verstappen calling amidates and saying it's absolutely ridiculous.

The kind of open kind of social media backlash and laughter at how ridiculous the sport is being run, the failures with the stewarding. You know, it's all out in the open. The drivers have slated it. Even like Lewis Hamilton and they said like, you can't wear jewelry and they rocks up wearing like 6,000 rings to basically be like screw you. This is their way of basically like going, well, you're not going to embarrass us anymore. We're in control and this is how we do it by, by.

basically we control you and and it is basically a we're not going to budge and join you and work together which is what it should be it is very much it it does feel like it's a standoff now between Formula One and the FAA the drivers themselves and it is a kind of like we're just going to show that you need us and we'll do everything we want and we'll control you break away then and it is whether that actually happens or not and the driver decide. Yeah, okay then, goodbye. Yeah, this kind of leads quite nicely into the next question from P1 Patreon member pf.f.f1 ski.

Realistically, what actions do you think the drivers, as the GPDA, could take to oppose the FIA with other contractual obligations towards their respective teams, sponsors, etc., would they go as far as boycotting some media events or even actual GP sessions? I cannot see the drivers falling in line with this personally. I think they've already been reasonably outspoken using the GPDA, social accounts and sort of fighting the FIA in some ways there. Of course, there are a lot of things to take into account as this question sort of highlights.

But at the same time, nothing's stopping them from saying things. They just imagine they just, right, we're going to put a post out. The FAA are like, well, that's quite mean. First offence to everybody on the grid. It's just, this could go a manner of many ways, in my opinion. but I also think that the F1 drivers will be very outspoken on this and it will just continue. And we don't want it to take away from the action on the track.

We've got potentially one of the best seasons ever coming up with potentially Ford teams in reasonably close proximity in terms of performance. And yet a lot of the talk, at least perhaps at the start of the season, will be about this, which how is that good for the sport? How do the FIA think it's good for the sport? Why can't they just work together as normal people and come to some sort of agreement? It's funny you mentioned about them talking about it. I do wonder if them dropping it randomly in January is a good way that the drivers aren't outspoken at this time of year.

There's no media press covering events and things. So they're not going to, you know, if this was done a day before the Australian Grand Prix, every press person and everyone in the paddock has got their microphone in front of drivers going, what do you think about this? But because, yeah, that's quite an interesting side of it. But we've seen drivers, albeit a very long time ago, you know, 40 years ago, the drivers went on strike because of something to do with their licenses that they didn't agree with. And it would be very fascinating to see if they would do something similar.

you know, the GPDA obviously felt strongly enough to write a letter together. You know, they dropped that picture, didn't they, where all the drivers were together. To kind of, I think, was a bit of a message of like, look, we're going to... We're together on this. Yeah. We're together on this. And, yeah, it's how far they go with it now. I think boycotting would be an insane thing, but I think it is literally going to be a power struggle.

the reason I don't think a boycott would happen is because the F, and this is probably why the FIA have done it, is the sad reality is it looks bad on the drives if they boycott it and fans have paid the money for the ticket and the race doesn't go ahead and things like that. But it is just going to be this power struggle now of who blinks first. Next question, P1, Patreon member Quinti. Will this cause some drivers to leave the sport? I don't think, not at this stage. I think it depends how far this goes and how crazy we get into this season and whether it's squashed quite quickly, which I can't see personally, or it goes on forever until something breaks. For me, I think Hamilton, Vestapp and those drivers will probably not care in the sense of they will just say how they feel no matter what.

They're experienced enough, they're successful enough that they have that power in some ways and that influence. They're allowed to, whereas the younger ones probably feel that they can't. And this is exactly what they're trying to do. They're trying to control the younger ones. So when they move up, they're on side and you know what you can and can't do. But yeah, totally agree. Okay, let's move on to the next question from Andy Kazama, UK. Is it time for F1 to create its own governing body and separate itself from the FIA?

Short answer, yes. Long answer, it's probably quite difficult and that's why they've not done it. It's as simple as that, I think. It really does depend if Formula One are willing to invest in something that's not easy to just break away from a governing body and do it yourself. And that's quite clear to see with the fact that we've had many question marks over the FIA and how they run things. It's going to have to get worse than this. I think it's going to have to be a case of, say that there are some drivers that revolt against this and like, no, I don't care. I'm going to swear.

Oh, you're going to, you're going to ban me? Oh, you're going to have championship points deduction. And that will be when it snowballs and the fans and everyone else will start to chime in and go, well, this is impacting my entertainment. The sport that I love so much is being hindered by this. And I think as soon as Formula One, sad to say it, as soon as Formula One starts to see a loss in money and a loss in interest in the sport, that's probably when they take action, which is kind of sad in that sense. It's not a proactive approach. It's probably going to be a reactive one where if their business starts to get impacted,

that's when they have to make a decision because it's not going to be cheap in order to create your own governing body. And that's probably why they've never done it. It's such a difficult thing. In theory, it sounds like, well, these guys are the ones that are causing lots of problems. let's just bin them off and do it ourselves, which Formula One, you can argue, has kind of, however much people want to push, like, you know, there's no doubt there's other entertaining series and motorsport series, Formula One is the biggest by an absolute mile,

and particularly in that FIA kind of stable, if you like, that they're doing with other series. But the problem is, it's easiest. than done because it's not just a case of going, oh, we'll bring new stewards, you know, the circuits have to be FIA regulated and then, you know, what do you do about the circuits and there's contracts there and there's all sorts of so many other things in the sport that's run in a weird way that there's the sport and the governing body and it would take such a massive thing that it makes it incredibly difficult.

but I'm sure that Formula One themselves are probably considering it because it does seem like they're trying to be more of an independent thing now. And yeah, I think it would take a huge amount to do it and be incredibly difficult. But I'm sure they're probably looking at options. But I can't see it being any time soon. And I guess that this is why the FAA know they can do it because, you know, it's the equivalent of a... I don't know, like when you're in a dictatorship, like a dictatorship and it's like, well, what other option have you got? And that's a sad reality where they're like, well, tough. This is how we're running it.

And it's a shame to see. And where's that money going? Where do they plan to put all this offence money? I really do wonder. Next question. People on Patreon, remember you will not have the drink. Why is it okay for F1 itself to always play the expletive-filled radio messages to the whole world, even if censored? if the FIA thinks swearing is the worst crime ever.

I mean, it highlights already, doesn't it, that there's a clash between what Formula One sees as entertainment and building driver personalities and playing a story out compared to the FIA who are like the most strict head teacher you could possibly think of. And that's where I'm sure they've clashed many times before and behind closed doors. But yeah, it's simply a case of F1 believing one thing

and the FIA believing another. I can't see Formula One changing that though. Especially, we've mentioned Netflix earlier. Are they going to change the whole way that that show is done as well to be the most PG role model worthy program ever? No, because no one would watch it. So. Hello, George Russell.

How are you doing, old chap? Oh, Max, good to see you. Oh, wonderful. Max, we've had agreements in the past. But let's go have a cup of tea and be friends. Yay! Shall we walk down the paddock holding hands and skipping? Let's do it.

Yeah, madness. Like I say, it's a different thing, and it just shows that Formula One themselves want to push that side of it because it's entertaining, and I know the drivers don't like it themselves in a way. And this is why I think there's talk of this words, deeds, and writings that have caused moral injury and lost to the FIA. which is obviously the swearing side of it.

This has to be in press conferences because you cannot, this cannot come into play by Team Radio because the drivers, it's the adrenaline, you know, footballers aren't miced up, boxes aren't miced up, like all these other sports

where they're probably saying exactly the same thing and they're swearing in there because they're, you know, it's an intense sport. It's their whole livelihood and there's so much pressure and there's so much craziness around it that it's very easy to

kind of say, stop swearing, but you know, this is, they're under insane high pressure situations and adrenaline flowing through them. And yeah, they're always going to say they're not going to, you know,

have a, I think it was Sebastian Vell, didn't he said it perfectly in a press conference where he said, you know, if I, if a footballer like punches someone in the face or something, they're not going to go, oh, stop that. That's not very nice. They're going to be very kind of aggressive because the adrenaline's flowing and things like that.

So they can't do it based on Team Radio, in my opinion. But you never know because it's the FAO. It's not a problem, right? Team Radio is censored. So what's the issue? You have normal programs on television that have censored swear words and it's deemed acceptable to watch. So the only problem are the press conferences.

So I've come up with a solution. But then who's watching the press conference? Like, I'm sorry, but five-year-old kids are not sat down watching the press conferences anyway. There's clearly a pandemic of children watching press conferences now. Well, Grace actually, yeah. She likes to, you know, watch TV. It's spreading across children and we need to stop the interest in press conferences. So what we're going to do, and I've come up with the solution, we need to put a parental

lock on press conferences. So a little 18 plus certificate at the start. There needs to be a lot of safety around it. And then we can just go racing and swear to what's not very nice. So I'm going to have to tell Grace that she now has to watch CBBs. Yeah, you do. It might be difficult. It might be difficult for Grace because, you know, does she watch Bob the Builder?

Does she watch the press conference from FP1? It's going to be a tough decision for her, but she's going to have to go with Bob the Builder. Okay. I'll let her know the bad news. Thank you, FIA. You've made me a better parent. Dear, dearie, dearie me. So good.

Well, that was interesting. Let's go for the final question, which is from P1, Patreon member, Katie. Who will be the first to get a ban? Max Rastappen. Have you seen his Dutch interviews? He's going to get banned within three sentences, let alone three races.

And he won't care. Yeah, exactly. He'll still get in his car and go out there, and then what are they going to do? I've seen a lot of jokes saying that, like, he's basically just going to get paid potential. eternity leave because he'll just swear and then be like, right, off to spend time with... Yeah, win the championship.

I think you put a tweet. I didn't you. He wins the championship, drops a C-bomb, gets banned for a month, spends time with his kid, comes back next year. So, I don't think anyone's getting banned. I genuinely don't. I think this is a threat. It's a threat, isn't it? It's a threat.

Is it an empty threat? Well, it's written down. So they could try and try and make this happen. It opens a kind of worms as well. and we could go on for like hours about this, but like in terms of like political, religious personal statements as well, like how far does that go?

You know, is sitting down praying. Oh, thank God. Oh, was that religious? Yeah. Yeah, you know, you sat down praying before a race and you're caught on TV doing it.

Is that a religious statement? Is that a like, where does it go from here? Like, yeah. I hopefully goes nowhere because it's utterly insane most of this and we just need to put it in the bin and let them just be humans. That's how I would summarize things.

Tommy, as we are coming to the end, let's go to your final thoughts. What do you think? Final thoughts? I'm just looking forward some cars on track, and we can all forget about this nonsense because it's incredibly annoying, and I just think that the FAA just need to get a grip and just put their egos aside

and just start running the sport properly and actually looking after the people that are in it, but they won't because it's, unfortunately, It's just ego-driven sport, really, isn't it? They're so concerned about being called stupid idiots that they forget to stop being stupid idiots. That's the problem. They're concerned more about the insult

than actually just doing a good job. I don't be firing race directors mid-season and thinking that's going to be fine. So just stop being insulted by the fact that people are criticizing you and actually do a better job. And then nobody will criticize you. It's amazing how it will go away when you do a better job. I know.

Honestly, if the FIA are listening, we've fixed you, mate. All right? Just do a better job. We don't need any of this silly little regulations about offences. So yeah, there you go. Utterly baffling. Hopefully it is nothing. I really don't want to see drivers banned for showing emotion.

And, of course, we don't want to see just random F bombs thrown out for the sake of it. But let's let them be humans. They know to not swear most of the time. Anyway, that is it. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening. We hope you've had a wonderful January so far. We look forward to some actual things to be excited about that aren't rante. And that's it.

Take care, lots of love, sweet dreams. Bye-bye. Bye. Have a great day. Oh, now you're going to have to make the editor bleep you. Oh, that's unbelievable. You f-f-f-chaws done. Oh, my.

How many bleeps are you trying to make them do now? That's wild. So, yeah, the chore is to wash your mouth out. All right, because get some mouthwash and just never swear again. Okay? All right. Goodbye. I can't believe you swore that many times.

That's wild. P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.