“I am not too sure why” - George Russell hits back at FIA’s ban of free speech

George Russell has joined a list of drivers who have spoken out against the FIA's ban on drivers taking political or social remarks on F1's platform.

In December 2022, the FIA sent out a directive that prevented drivers from making any political or social gestures during a race weekend. If a driver had to make such a statement then he would need to run it by the FIA and get approval for it.

Multiple drivers, including Valtteri Bottas, the driver George Russell replaced at Mercedes, have spoken out against it. Russell sounded a bit befuddled by the FIA directive as according to him, something like this did not make sense in any which way. Terming the directive unnecessary, Russell said:

"I am not too sure why the FIA has taken a stance like this. It is totally unnecessary in the sport and in the world we live in at the moment. I would like to think it has all been some kind of misunderstanding, but on that I am not too sure."

"We are not going to limit our views or thoughts because of some silly regulation. We are all here to have free speech and share whatever views we have."

He added:

"I hope and trust it will be resolved before the first race. I can't imagine they want to restrict us from any of our views, this is a part of freedom of speech and we have our right to share our views across whatever platform we wish. So I don't see this being a concern moving forward."

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Lando Norris had echoed George Russell's sentiments on FIA's clampdown

Lando Norris echoed similar sentiments as George Russell and hinted that he would break the rule if the penalty wasn't too much. He said:

“I don’t know what the penalty is, if it’s a fine I am probably happy to break it. If it’s a bit more then maybe not but it depends. At certain times there are things you are going to want to say which maybe they won’t allow but I think that will only be a positive thing for whatever that circumstance is.”

The directive was in all likelihood the decision of Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA president. Since he would not be taking an active part in the day-to-day proceedings of F1, there is a possibility that the FIA could roll back the directive altogether.