Racing Bulls CEO with a spoiler: 'We did talk about that at F1 Commission'
F1 News
Ahead of the F1 75 Live event at the O2 Arena, every team but Ferrari will have a press conference, where of course, drivers and team personnel react to the hottest topics in the competition. One of those is the reformed penalties for swearing. Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies and CEO Peter Bayer shared their thoughts on the matter in London.
Racing Bulls clear on the rules introduced by the FIA
Under the new FIA rules, drivers would have to pay up to €120,000 if they say something not allowed. If they make that mistakes three times in a two-year period, that can also lead to a one-month suspension and they could also lose already gathered points in the standings. Therefore, high stakes are on the line for both drivers and teams.
Asked if there are concerns about the possible consequences alleged misconduct could have on their drivers, Mekies replied in the negative. "Honestly, we are not worried about it. I'm sure Peter will confirm these views, but we think that, fine, there have been a lot of discussions, fine, there have been maybe a bit too much stress for this specific topic, but in the end of the day, the sport, F1, FIA, the teams are trying to find the right balance between getting access to the emotions of the drivers and also keeping our role model part," Mekies began to GPblog among others.
"We have been a little bit adjusted on what is the right balance of that, but I have every confidence that we will ultimately arrive on a good balance point. So, yes, there have been some ups and downs, but I think that we will find a reasonable solution for the start of the season," the Frenchman concluded.
Bayer: 'This has been discussed in the F1 committee'
The team's CEO, Bayer has revealed that swearing in the competition has been discussed at the FIA Commission Meeting earlier today. "Just to add quickly, maybe without any spoiler alert, but it was a discussion this morning, actually, in the F1 Commission. And interestingly, I think we all agree we want to keep those emotions alive. We do have the ‘beeping’ already from F1 with the delayed broadcast, which is probably taking care of a lot of the emotions," he began.
Recently, contrasting rulings have been released by the FIA about swearing. In Formula E, Dan Ticktum received no penalty after his rant over the team radio, but Adrien Fourmaux was penalised heavily for swearing in the WRC series at a press event.
"You had a case in Formula E just recently, a week ago, which has been, the stewards found that was an internal discussion between the driver and his team. We had the other end of the possibilities yesterday in WRC, world rallying. So I think what it means is that we, as F1, as teams, as FIA, we have to get together, and I'm sure the drivers, we want to have a clear briefing of what should be said and should not be said."
He concluded: "But overall, I think it's going in the right direction, preserving the emotions, not making it too profane at the same time, and making sure that we develop as a sport."
This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder
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