F1 drivers risk gargantuan fines after FIA rule change

The International Sporting Code (ISC) underpins motorsport globally and offers a foundational set of regulations upon which each category builds.

It details requirements such as licensing, the role of promoters and the regulator, and other largely administrative elements surrounding the running of the sport in general.

As such, it is as much part of the rules as the sporting and technical regulations in Formula 1, though far more broadly applicable.

Given Supercars is an International Series, it too is governed by the document and takes precedence in any conflict or contradiction exists between the various documents governing the category.

A new version of the ISC has been published ahead of the 2025 motorsport season starting, and a number of amendments and additions have been made.

The most significant is the introduction of Appendix B which relates to stewards penalty guidelines and includes matrix detailing penalties for issues regarding language, misconduct, and similar issues.

Five articles of the ISC are listed with a sliding scale based on whether there has been a breach previously.

The introduction of the suggested penalties (the document states it is “a guideline to assist stewards in determining fines for violations of certain articles”) comes after the FIA last year looked to clamp down on behaviour and language in the sport, on instruction of president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

The FIA has adopted the position that abuse of officials should not, and therefore will not, be tolerated.

The penalty guidelines are designed to act as a deterrent to those at lower levels while bringing the motorsport inline with the stance in other professional sports where sanctions to abusing officials already exist.

Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc were both found in breach of the ISC after swearing in FIA press conferences during the Singapore and Mexico City Grands Prix respectively.

For Verstappen, that resulted in an obligation to complete an act of community service, which he duly did in Rwanda as part of the FIA prize-giving ceremony last December. Leclerc copped an AUD $16,500 fine for the same offence.

The matrix is also designed to deal with that inconsistency by introducing set penalties for established breaches, increasing in severity for repeat offenders.

In the first instance, drivers face an AUD $16,500 or AUD $25,000 fine, depending on the breach.

Those figures increase to AUD $33,200 and AUD $50,000 for a second transgression, coupled with a potential suspension (which is suspended).

Subsequent breaches attract AUD $50,000 or AUD $75,000 fines, the imposition of a suspension, and a potential “deduction of Championship points,” the scale of which is not defined.

However, that is the baseline penalty values, applicable to drivers competing in an FIA International Series, such as Supercars.

From there, multipliers are applied with FIA Cups and FIA regional championships liable to penalties double those figures.

World championship level competitions, with the exception of F1, are triple the listed fees, with F1 attracted fines four times those quoted.

Under the rules, the Verstappen and Leclerc comments would likely attract a AUD $66,000, a figure that could increase to AUD $200,000 for a third offence (in two years).

A number of other articles of the ISC have received attention, ostensibly to tidy up and simplify the wording or intent without other significant material change.

International Sporting Code, Appendix B: Stewards Penalty Guidelines

*Within 2-year period