George Russell “a little bit surprised” FIA haven’t responded to GPDA letter

George Russell has confirmed the FIA have not responded to the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association statement regarding F1 driver misconduct.

Earlier this month, the GPDA posted a lengthy statement on their newly-created Instagram account, addressing a range of issues.

The letter focused on the issue of swearing, which has seen Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc hit with fines, while also calling for FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to “consider his tone and language”.

It’s been a turbulent few weeks for the FIA, with them replacing F1 race director Niels Wittich with Rui Marques for the final three races of the year.

Speaking in the FIA press conference in Las Vegas ahead of this weekend’s race, Russell - who is head of the GPDA - was asked if the FIA had been in touch following the aforementioned statement.

“No,” Russell said. “Not at the moment which I am a little bit surprised about but maybe there will be something to come. Who knows.”

Another issue raised in the letter was the subject of fines.

Russell feels there’s a lack of transparency over where the money received by the FIA through fines ends up.

“I think ultimately for us when we were hearing from the FIA a couple of years ago, when it came to the presidential elections, they were talking about transparency, where the money is going to be reinvested into grassroots racing of which we’re all in favour for,” Russell explained.

“When it comes to some of these large fines. There’s a number of drivers on the grid who can comfortably afford these fines. There’s maybe some rookies on the grid if they’re handed a $1 million fine they can’t afford.

“If we know where that is reinvested and if it’s going into grassroots or training programmes. We just want the transparency and understanding of what was promised from the beginning.”

"Fed up with the situation" 

During the gap between Brazil and Vegas, the FIA saw another departure as Paolo Basarri left his position as compliance officer.

Russell conceded that the FIA is “clearly not the most stable of places” and that several drivers are “probably fed up with the situation”.

“We recognise everyone is working as hard as they can to do the best job possible,” he added. “There is obviously a huge amount of change within the FIA quite regularly so it’s clearly not the most stable of places. Maybe that’s why it’s been a bit challenging to get some of the changes that we’ve wanted implemented.

“Of course, everyone has their own side to their own story. As I said, I think if we feel that we’re being listened to and some of the changes that we’re requesting are implemented because ultimately we’re only doing it for the benefit of the sport then maybe our confidence will increase.

“There’s a number of drivers who are probably fed up with the situation. It only seems to be going in to a degree the wrong direction.”