George Russell sent a firm message to the President of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, about a prohibition by potential juron.
The driver of Mercedes and President of the GPDA wishes to see an action by Ben Sulayem – and to have a dialogue on the sanctions associated with the curse.
George Russell wants “action” on fia in court
Before the 2025 racing season, the FIA updated Annex B in its International Sports Code (ISC) with the intention of taking fines against drivers who use words of curse or speak negatively.
This decision was unpopular to the drivers, and the competitors of the world rally championship decided to refuse interviews in order to avoid any potential punishment.
But Monday before the Miami Grand Prix, the president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, shared a position to declare that he is planning to make “improvements” to the rules.
“Following constructive comments from the drivers of our seven FIA world championships, I plan to improve Annex B,” wrote Ben Sulayem on Instagram.
“As a former rally driver, I understand the requirements they are better confronted than most.
“Annex B is a key element of the international sports code and is central to helping sport accessible to our whole sports family.
“Humans establish rules and humans can improve rules.
“This principle of continuous improvement is something I always believed in and is at the heart of everything we do at FIA.”
However, there was no additional information on the impact of F1 drivers.
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When he was asked if he thought Ben Sulayem was on the right track to pursue changes and improvements to the oath ban, Russell said: “Conceptually, yes”.
However, the driver also used the FIA press conference to emphasize more what he would like to see the president.
“We want to see these things put in action rather than saying” we consider things “,” said Russell. “You know, we all consider a lot.
“We are clear that we want changes and once they are implemented, we will comment. But for the moment, it is considered. So these words mean nothing until the change has been made.”
Russell has also been invited to further develop the role that GPDA plays with FIA – in particular, if there should be a greater level of professionalism between FIA and GPDA concerning official talks to discuss the potential changes in the rules.
“I think it’s like unprecedented moments in the last 18 months with what has been changed and what’s going on,” admitted the president of the GPDA.
“I think that when the GPDA was founded years ago, it was not really to talk about politics – it was to talk about security, sports improvements, racing improvements.
“Especially myself – I find myself talking about subjects that I did not really intend to talk about.
“But we find ourselves at a time when we do not focus on things why we are all here. We are here to race, we are here to create the best show for fans, to have the fastest cars, the safest cars, the best technology, the best engineering – and yet we are talking about fines and punishments and juries.
“So yes, maybe something should change. We are open, but we finally want the best for sport.”
Russell’s former teammate, Lewis Hamilton, has also added his thoughts, noting that the GPDA is “very unified”, but that there is a desire to have more word to say in the context of the rules.
Hamilton continued: “In the end, we do not take an electric seat at the table, and this must change, in my opinion.
“If you look at other sports that have unions, it can be something that comes into play at some point.
“As I said, we don’t want to control things – we just want to collaborate more and make our voices heard.
“In the end, if people make decisions for others who have never been in this position, it is good to have the point of view from the driver’s point of view, and that’s all we are trying to give.”
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