The FIA have not earned themselves a glowing reputation from fans and drivers in recent times, with every race week seeming to spark a new debate about a controversial decision or mistake from the governing body.
Most recently it was Fernando Alonso’s penalty in Austin, with the Spaniard being slapped with a 30-second time penalty after the race for driving an unsafe car, only for it to be rescinded a few days later upon appeal.
After being involved in an accident with Lance Stroll, race control decided not to show Alonso the black and orange flag which would have forced him to pit and repair damage, despite doing so for much less damage earlier in the season to drivers like Kevin Magnussen.
The FIA then passed the car on its post-race tests, only to give a 30-second penalty to the Alpine driver when Haas protested against the lack of consistency with the black and orange flag.
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Alonso said that the outcome of Alpine’s appeal would be very important for the sport, with the French team winning the appeal and his point scoring finish being reinstated.
“I don’t care about seventh as I’m not fighting for the world championship, but if this [penalty] goes ahead, I think we will open a box that we don’t want to open,” he suggested.
Much has been made of the back and forth changing of mind by the FIA, with former F1 driver Romain Grosjean calling the latest incident a joke.
“By wanting to do too well, I think the FIA is unnecessarily complicating its task and finding itself more and more in untenable situations,” said the former Haas driver.
“First there was the Suzuka crane, where instead of just saying ‘We made a mistake’, they invented a whole ultra-complex procedure that will not make decisions smoother.
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“They’ve also been pushing this business about the jewellery, when the only unburned skin on my left hand was precisely preserved by my wedding ring. So it was just another pointless fight.”
The FIA have recently ditched the two race director approach, going back to having a single director that covers every race, rather than a rotation which was introduced this year.
Despite all the criticism of the FIA with regards to their race weekend decision making, Toto Wolff has recently praised the governing body for their robust approach to the cost cap breaches and their thorough investigations surrounding the new regulations.