Lewis Hamilton has urged the FIA to guarantee that F1 drivers’ fines “go to a good cause” after the governing body tripled the amount it can fine stars, with the maximum penalty for a single offense being £880,000. Several drivers expressed shock ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, although the Mercedes driver offered one caveat for the new rules.
The International Sporting Code (ISC) modification was accepted at a meeting of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council in Geneva after it was determined that the previous maximum of £218,000 “does not reflect the current needs of motorsport” and had not been changed in 12 years.
Hamilton was recently fined £43,600 for crossing a live track during the Qatar Grand Prix, an event that was investigated by the FIA, but he only had one request for the governing body, stating that he hoped the money recouped from fines would be utilized to help future motorsport drivers.
“If they are going to be fining a million, let’s make sure that 100 per cent of that goes to a cause,” Hamilton said. “There’s a lot of money in this industry, and there’s a lot more we need to do in terms of improving accessibility, diversity, and opportunities for people who wouldn’t normally have a chance to get into a sport like this.” There are so many causes all across the world. So… yeah. That’s the only way they’re going to get that million dollars from me.”
Currently, the money received from fines is spent using the FIA’s Development Funds. That is used to make improvements to on-track security and also train marshals, while supporting medical and crash extrication at grassroots level.
The fines are also used for grants through the Mobility Development Funds and Sport Development Fund which promote road safety initiatives and pay for the commercial rights to use the F1 name as part of a 100-year license.
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