2023 Sporting Code: drivers banned from making “political, religious and personal statements” without approval. FIA bans F1 drivers from making 'political' statements without approval.

The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, the governing body for world motor sport and the federation of the world’s leading motoring organisations, has announced that it will ban drivers from making “political, religious and personal statements”, without prior consent from the FIA.

In the last few years, drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have tried to use their status and image to point out different topics and problems which they feel have to be addressed.

Lewis Hamilton and former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel have many timed attempted to draw attention towards issues such as equality and social injustice: the Mercedes man was seen with a T-shirts displaying the message “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor” and “Black lives matter”.

Sebastian Vettel has previously been reprimanded for wearing T-shirts that supported the LGBTQ+ rights T-shirt, and earlier this year fell foul of the Canadian authorities by displaying a message “Stop mining tar sands”.

The FIA issued an updated International Sporting Code, which is set to take effect from 1st January 2023.

“Failure to comply with the instructions of the FIA regarding the appointment and participation of persons during official ceremonies at any Competition counting towards a FIA Championship” will now be considered a breach of the regulations.

Most of the offences in the International Sporting Code may lead to penalties up to race bans and €250,000 fines, despite the fact that no guidelines for these specific offences have been published.

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The new rule (12.2.1.n) states:

“The general making and display of political, religious and personal statements or comments notably in violation of the general principle of neutrality promoted by the FIA under its Statutes, unless previously approved in writing by the FIA for International Competitions, or by the relevant ASN for National Competitions within their jurisdiction.”

The FIA still continues to promote its own statutes, which are against the discrimination of anybody based on “race, skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or social origin, language, religion, philosophical or political opinion, family situation or disability.”