Is safety more important or the fans? FIA’s choice at Abu Dhabi
During the Abu Dhabi weekend, the final round of the 2025 Formula 1 season, we noticed something intriguing in the various FIA sanction documents. Some strong inconsistencies, one might even say. When they were first issued, we admittedly paid little attention, but by Saturday, when new situations forced the stewards to intervene again, we were absolutely astonished.
Indeed, the Federation rightly pursues certain priorities. Chief among them is track safety: enforcing pit lane speed limits, penalizing unsafe releases, and punishing impeding.
€25,000 fines for missing fan events
What caught our eye was the sanction given to Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll did not participate in the Friday fan engagement activities, and for this absence, the FIA fined the team €25,000 per driver. That’s a total of €50,000 for missing a single fan session.
€10,000 fine for causing a pit lane incident
These fines seem totally disproportionate when compared to those issued on Saturday to Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda. Mercedes received just a €10,000 fine for the unsafe release that triggered the pit lane incident between Kimi and Yuki during FP3, an incident that also caused damage to the Red Bull floor.
The Milton Keynes team was also fined €10,000 for impeding Lando Norris during FP3. Too much? Too little? How can one be objective when missing a fan event costs €25,000, while an unsafe release or impeding on track results in just €10,000?
Obviously, it’s always a matter of priorities, and in our view, they could use some review.
And you? What do you think about the FIA’s controversial fines for safety and fan engagement? Let us know with a comment at the end of the article or on our social media channels: Facebook Group / Facebook Page / Instagram / X (former Twitter) and TikTok.
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