The FIA have been branded ‘childish’ by former driver Romain Grosjean over their stand-off with Lewis Hamilton in regard to the jewelery ban. The seven-time world champion has been embroiled in the saga since FIA boss Mohammed ben Sulayem began to clamp down on drivers sporting jewelery behind the wheel.
Seemingly left bemused by the decision, the seven-time world champion criticized the ruling – even turning up to media appearances in more accessories than normal to make his point. Hamilton claimed he was unable to remove a nose stud on a medical exemption mid-campaign.
But prior to the British Grand Prix, the Englishman was issued an ultimatum by the governing body, and eventually backed down. This is not the only time the FIA have been involved in a stand-off with drivers, with the federation seemingly never far from controversy each race week.
And ex-Lotus, Renault and Haas man Grosjean believes the ‘childish’ off-track disputes could well turn fans off. Speaking to Sky Sports’ Any Driven Monday programme, he said: “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.”
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Alluding to this, he went on: “There’s been so many rules in Formula 1 that, you know, it’s complicated – like the Alonso case. 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.”
