FIA Stewards Can Now Fine F1 Drivers Up To €1million

Posted on October 19, 2023 | by Charley Williams Well, we feel a bit silly for ever complaining about any parking ticket fines we may or may not have received in our life (definitely not) when FIA stewards can now impose €1million fines to F1 drivers. Yep, you read that right.  While most financial penalties you see on a race-to-race basis are more than likely imposed on the teams, the most common offence being pit lane speeding, the FIA stewards can fine the driver, too. The most recent example of this is Lewis Hamilton. At the Qatar GP, after a collision at turn 1 between Lewis and his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, he abandoned his car in the gravel and ran back to the pits. In doing so, he crossed a live track and reached the inside edge of the circuit seconds before George arrived at high speed, exiting the pits. He was handed a €50,000 fine, half of which is suspended for the rest of the season. Now, following the third FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting this year, it’s been decided that the maximum amount that can be imposed on drivers has now been raised by quite a lot! The ISC (International Sporting Code) had previously determined that the maximum fine amount that the stewards can impose is €250,000. This amount has not been reviewed nor amended for at least the last twelve years, and they have decided that the amount no longer reflects the current needs of motorsport. So the World Council approved an update to the maximum limit of €1,000,000 ???? To any F1 driver who reads this, you might want to stay out of trouble!