FIA waives penalties for derailments on Formula E team radio in Jeddah: "No action required"

Some weeks ago, the International Automobile Federation FIA issued new guidelines on the penalties that stewards should impose in the event of driver offences. WRC driver Adrien Fourmaux was fined a few days ago for saying "We fucked up yesterday" in an interview at the Rally Sweden. However, Mitch Evans and Dan Ticktum, who literally competed to see which driver said the F-word more often on the publicly accessible team radio during Friday's race in Jeddah, both got away without a penalty. It is possible that the FIA has now set a precedent.

The publication of Appendix B to the FIA's International Sporting Code, the "Stewards Penalty Guideline" caused a great deal of discussion among motorsport fans: There is talk of excessive political correctness, muzzles and even censorship as well as the suppression of freedom of expression by an authoritarian regime. FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem is often considered to be personally responsible for the strict rules of behaviour.

After Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen was sentenced to community service at the FIA Gala in Rwanda last September, before the new Annex B was published, for making a similar statement during the Singapore Grand Prix, the discussion picked up speed again with the punishment for Formaux. In particular, Ticktum's messages on the team radio, transcripts of which were already circulating on social media during the race, made many people sit up and take notice.

No penalties for radio communication with the team

Almost a dozen times he uttered words that - if you look at the penalty for Fourmaux - seem worthy of sanction. Evans' team radio was no better, on the contrary: The New Zealander made a double-digit number of verbal derailments when he got upset about the collision with Pascal Wehrlein and the fact that he was lapped during the subsequent repair pit stop.

However, neither Evans nor Ticktum, who has frequently attracted attention in the past for using adult language on the team radio, need fear a penalty, as the FIA confirmed.

"The stewards have been made aware and decided that no further action was needed as this happened in the context of a radio communication with the team and not during a media interview," Autosport quoted an FIA spokesperson as saying. Has this set a precedent and possibly given the drivers carte blanche?

Opinion of Tobias Wirtz: The right decision, but a question mark remains

The very fact that the FIA, via the International Sporting Code, reserves the right to penalise drivers for "inappropriate" language to fines and even suspensions, I find questionable. Of course, it is in the interest of a federation that no bad light is cast on the sport. But the wording in the International Sporting Code also leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Or can anyone say with certainty which words exactly can be perceived as rude or to cause offence and which are not?

Some people may consider it justified to punish Formaux for the statement "We fucked up yesterday." But some people see it differently. Of course, a professional athlete, especially in a world championship, should be able to express himself differently in a media interview. Regardless of whether he is a racing driver, footballer or perhaps a chess player by profession.

During the competition itself, it's not uncommon to hear words that you shouldn't necessarily say when meeting your parents-in-law for the first time. However, given the adrenaline and emotional strain on the athletes, this is hardly surprising. The difference is that, for example, the battle of words between Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi in the final of the 2006 Football World Cup, which led to the famous headbutt, could not be heard live by countless fans via an app or even broadcast on TV. It is not for nothing that a warning always appears in the Formula E app: "Caution, team radio is uncensored".

Personally, I think it's good that the FIA has decided in the interests of the sport and has not applied the rules in this case. But this is by no means enshrined in the International Sporting Code. Will it be seen in the same way there if a driver gets upset about a penalty with similar words on the radio? If he were to call FIA personnel such as the race director, the stewards or even the FIA president the F-word? I'm not sure about that.