How much?! FIA quadruples its maximum F1 fine to €1 million

The maximum fine the FIA can impose on F1 drivers has been quadrupled from €250,000 to €1 million, leaving several leading figures baffled… and presumably a bit nervous.

The announcement has come completely out of the blue and follows a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Geneva. A statement argued: “This amount has not been reviewed or amended for at least 12 years and does not reflect the current needs of motor sport.”

It’s not clear what offence a driver would have to commit to merit the full seven-figure penalty. Two weeks ago Lewis Hamilton was fined €50,000 - half of which was suspended - for crossing the live Qatar circuit without permission, a decision the FIA later said it would be “revisiting”.

Back in 2021, Max Verstappen was fined €50,000 for touching Hamilton’s rear wing in parc ferme after qualifying ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix. And last season Sebastian Vettel was fined €5,000 for riding a scooter back to the pits in Australia.

The drivers have asked for more transparency from the FIA: several of them only learned of the new fine limits during the pre-race press conference ahead of this weekend’s US Grand Prix.

“I would like to know what that offence can be!” said Verstappen. “One mil! If touching a rear wing is €50k, then I would like to know what one mill is. Then maybe we can also sponsor the bottles of wine. I’ll get ready.”

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc added: “It is a huge amount of money. I have no idea about what deserves a $1 million penalty – but it’s more than… I mean, some drivers are making less than that.”

Meanwhile AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo - back in action this weekend after recovering from a hand injury - called the figure “scary”, and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen agreed: “Yeah, I don’t know what offence it is to be a million but that sounds ridiculous. I mean, Charles can give his watch… but I would disappear, never to be found again.”

Although the top earners in F1 are on tens of millions a year, rookies and those driving for smaller teams often earn nothing like the kind of salary imagined by fans. Can’t imagine the stereotype will go away with a $1 million forfeit in the rulebook either…

“When it comes to things like this I really do think we need to be thinking about the message that this sends out to those that are watching,” said Lewis Hamilton. “If they are going to be fining people a million, let’s make sure one hundred per cent of that goes to a cause.

“There’s a lot of money in this whole industry and a lot more that we need to do in terms of creating better accessibility, better diversity, more opportunities for people who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to get into a sport like this. So many causes around the world. That’s the only way they’ll get that million from me.”