Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton have at times been involved in a few spits and spats against one another; however, the former Haas driver has revealed that he actually agrees with the seven-time World Champion’s stance over jewellery wearing.
Following the departure of race director Michael Masi, Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, who both replaced the Australian, seemingly attempted to implement a number of strict policies in the paddock.
The most controversial of them all was that the race directors wanted the drivers to remove all jewellery whilst in the car, something which was backed by new FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Hamilton disagreed with what the FIA were trying to do, after trying to explain that it has no effect on the drivers and that he’s worn it throughout his career.
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Despite pleading with the governing body and campaigning against them, by turning up to press conferences in even more jewellery than usual, the 37-year-old was given an ultimatum.
Hamilton was given a certain period of time to remove all his jewellery, or face being banned from racing.
The Mercedes driver ultimately obliged to the FIA’s command, by having surgery to remove some of his jewellery.
This even involved his nose becoming infected as a result, which saw the Brit told by a doctor to keep his nose stud in.
Somewhat comically, Hamilton arrived into the paddock like a schoolboy, after giving the FIA a doctor’s note.
The matter has since quietened down, but Grosjean nevertheless believes the FIA were “childish” over the matter.
“Off-track some of the things that that were talked [about] this year were, I don’t know, a little bit childish – it just feels like it’s not really necessary,” Grosjean told Sky Sports’ Any Driven Monday.
“Formula 1 is booming, and the racing is great and fans’ attendance is amazing. I just felt like some of the jewellery rules, you know… I wouldn’t feel comfortable driving without my wedding ring just because that’s part of me and I love it. So that wasn’t great.”
2022 has been a truly shocking year for the FIA, who have come under fire more often than not at every Grand Prix this season.
The most recent issue was their handling of Fernando Alonso at the United States Grand Prix.
Alonso astonishingly finished seventh at the Circuit of the Americas, despite being involved in a heavy collision with Lance Stroll.
The Spaniard clearly continued racing with damage, mainly to his right mirror which flew off towards the end of the race.
Haas complained after the race that he should’ve been shown the black and orange flag, something the FIA agreed with.
This saw Alonso awarded a 30-second time penalty; however, this was reverted prior to the Mexican Grand Prix after Alpine argued that Haas’ complaint came after the 30-minute window.
The biggest issue is, though, Haas have stated that they were told by the race director that they could protest to the FIA an hour after the race, not 30 minutes.
Grosjean believes that there are simply “too many rules” in F1, with it having become too “complicated” as a result.
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“There’s been so many rules in Formula 1 that, you know, it’s complicated – like the Alonso case,” added the Frenchman.
“It’s just a bad example of too many rules.
“Like they didn’t use the rule in the race and then post-race they ruled that it’s unsafe, but the harm was already made. If it was unsafe, he should have stopped the car before. And then there was some more rules on top of the rules that meant Alpine could get the position back, and it’s just complicated.”