“If you do it, it’s clear what you get” - Drivers warned of pushing own "agenda"

World champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have been most vocal on a range of matters ranging from racism, sexuality and climate change.

Hamilton’s decision to wear a t-shirt on the podium at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, with a message "arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor" led to the banning of such clothing by the FIA on the podium.

The FIA have gone one step further for F1 2023, making it clear that drivers shouldn’t use the sport for their own opinions and agenda.]

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Speaking to the media at the Dakar Rally, Ben Sulayem reiterated the FIA’s stance.

“We are concerned with building bridges,” Ben Sulayem said.

“You can use sport for peace reasons, but one thing we don’t want is to have the FIA as a platform for private personal agenda. We will divert from the sport.

“What does the driver do best? Driving. They are so good at it, and they make the business, they make the show, they are the stars. Nobody is stopping them.

“There are other platforms to express what they want. Everybody has this and they are most welcome to go through the process of the FIA, to go through that.”  

The FIA president also hinted that drivers will be punished if they push their own agendas, making an unusual comparison to “speeding in the pit lane” - which is a clear cut fine orp penalty if a driver is found guilty of doing so.

“I have my own personal things, okay, but it doesn’t mean I will use the FIA to do it,” Ben Sulayem added

“The FIA should be neutral, I believe. We need the superstars to make the sport.

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“If there is anything, you take the permission. If not, if they make any other mistake, it’s like speeding in the pit lane. If you do it, it’s very clear what you get.”