AUSTIN, Texas – George Russell said he and his fellow drivers will challenge Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, about the prospect of being fined €1 million ($1.05m) in the future.
Ahead of the U.S. Grand Prix, the maximum fine that can be issued to drivers quadrupled, although it is not clear what sort of infraction would result in the €1m penalty.
Russell’s rivals also spoke out against the measure during media day at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas on Thursday, with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton saying the only way he would ever pay such a heavy fine is if the FIA donated it to a worthy cause.
After the Qatar Grand Prix two weeks ago, Hamilton was fined €50,000 — €25,000 of which was suspended — for walking across the circuit after crashing out of the race at Turn 1.
While Hamilton and world champion Max Verstappen have some of the most lucrative contracts in sport, Russell said a large chunk of the grid are paid considerably less.
“I’d say there’s probably 40% of the grid are making less than this maximum fine,” Russell said. “And that’s the income, that’s not taking into consideration the outgoings, the traveling around the world, the people you need as part of your team. It’s pretty obscene.”
He added: “I think it’s pretty ridiculous that a driver could be fined a million euro. In my first year of Formula One, I was on a five-figure salary, and actually lost over six figures in that first year for paying for my trainer, paying for flights, paying for an assistant, and that’s probably the case for 25% of the grid.
“We’re doing what we love, so we’re not complaining about that… But if you take a year one driver who probably by the end of the year is losing over 100,000 because of the investment he has to make, you fine him a million, what’s going to happen?
“We’ve requested before from the FIA to hear where those fines are going towards, what causes they’re going to. It needs to be reinvested into grass roots, but so far, we’ve had no response on where that’s going. We’d love to get some clarity and transparency, and if they truly believe a million euro fine is worthwhile, and it’s going to reinvest into the sport, then maybe one of the drivers who is being paid a lot is happy to pay that fine. But it seems obscene.”
Russell, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association [GPDA], said the drivers plan to raise the issue to the FIA.
The first chance they will get will be at the driver briefing, held behind closed doors ahead of every race weekend on a Friday evening.
The first season Russell referred to was when he drove at Williams. Alex Albon, who replaced him at the team in 2022, was told about the fine during his media session on Thursday.
“I don’t think they know what salaries we are on” a shocked Albon replied.
Albon reiterated what Russell said about the financial burden on a lot of drivers, especially towards the back of the grid.
“I wonder how it’s going to work out because I think there’s such an unknown knowledge about the sacrifices F1 drivers make. We are quite popular people, we travel around the world a lot, we get noticed a lot, we do need a group of people around us in a lot of cases.
“But I think people wouldn’t realise — especially the first two, three or four years of being a Formula 1 driver, the salaries are nothing like what people actually think they are. I’m sure you guys probably know a bit more than what most people do, but it would be a tough fine if you were to get into debt.”