The FIA’s head of single-seater racing, Nikolas Tombazis has responded following questions over the place the cash raised by the fines imposed on drivers really goes.
The thorny concern arose as a part of the response to Mohammed ben Sulayem’s clampdown on swearing, to not point out earlier regulatory steps regarding underwear and jewelry.
Calling on the FIA president to deal with drivers like adults, Grand Prix Drivers’ Affiliation director, George Russell, additionally requested for transparency, notably by way of the place the cash raised by fines imposed on drivers finally ends up.
The Mercedes driver, recalling the election course of in 2021 which noticed Ben Sulayem take over from Jean Todt, stated that drivers had been promised the cash can be channelled into grass roots racing.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Tombazis was eager to guarantee Russell and his colleagues that the cash is being reinvested within the sport.
“The FIA isn’t a profit-making organisation,” he stated. “We do not have shareholders who’re some numbers within the inventory trade and hoping for share worth to go up or get extra dividends or something like that.
“I believe this query is usually barely influenced by the feelings of the second, of no matter wonderful is being mentioned and so forth,” he continued. “I realise that anybody who’s paying a wonderful is all the time barely aggravated about it and should really feel considerably aggrieved, however for certain there are such a lot of completely different ranges of tasks that you could by no means come to the conclusion that this cash is in some way spent for Christmas events and so forth.
“The amount of cash spent in grassroots vastly exceeds the fines collected,” he insisted, “which I believe signifies that something that goes in there may have a constructive influence.”
Eager to emphasize that the cash is invested in these areas of the game that want it, he stated: “What I can say with absolute certainty is that fines of drivers in a single sport do not subsidise one other sport or one other class or one thing like that.
“In case you have a look at different initiatives, whether or not it’s our campaigns, just like the one about on-line abuse and all of the grassroots we have been speaking about earlier than, or security tasks, I consider are noble methods of spending such cash. And this cash does contribute to that.
“There’s about €10.3 million spent on grassroots, for a lot of golf equipment, for a lot of international locations,” he added, “simply to advertise a spread of tasks of early motorsport exercise, and I believe that is essential.
“In the end, I believe the well being of Components 1 is basically depending on the general enchantment of motorsport. It isn’t simply having an thrilling grand prix, but it surely’s additionally having extra individuals who typically even do some comparatively low stage of grassroots stage of motorsport of their nation. I believe that is going to be in the end helpful for Components 1.
“The opposite half, after all, is with a purpose to choose drivers for the long run, how drivers can develop into the ladder and have the chance to take action even when they’re possibly not coming from a rich household, for instance. That’s what is in the end the important thing goal.”
