FIA Political Statement Ban – Everything you should know about the governing body’s recent injunction

Motorsport’s apex governing body FIA have released new guidelines for all drivers across the various levels under its umbrella – everything you should know about the Political Statement Ban

The FIA has outlined updated guidelines for drivers, to be followed from the 2023 season. It has banned all drivers across levels including F1, from making any non-neutral “political, religious or personal” statements or comments without prior permission. The new regulation has been updated in FIA’s International Sporting Code.

The latest version of the rule book states: “Drivers will be deemed to have committed a breach of the rules if they show the general making and display of political, religious and personal statements or comments notably in violation of the general principle of neutrality promoted by the FIA under its Statutes, unless previously approved in writing by the FIA for International Competitions, or by the relevant ASN for National Competitions within their jurisdiction.” The decision from FIA comes after a number of controversial gestures from F1 drivers over political issues in the last few years.

Which incidents could have possibly forced FIA to make amendments to their sporting code?

F1 has witnessed a lot of incidents in the recent past wherein drivers have expressed their opinion on numerous social issues and controversial topics through their costumes or gestures. One recent incident that comes to mind is at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton put on a T-shirt that stated: “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.” This was an issue which was under investigation by the concerned judiciary and Hamilton’s gesture certainly caused a stir.

Another recent incident which grabbed the attention of the World occurred at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel was reprimanded for putting on a ‘Same Love’ T-shirt during the pre-race national anthem. Vettel’s gesture was a sign of protest against the host country, Hungary’s controversial homophobic referendum. Even Lewis Hamilton had expressed his disgust and criticised the Hungarian government for their anti-LGBTQ+ laws during this Grand Prix.

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