24/07/2025
NEWS STORY
Red Bull protests prompt FIA to review fees in a bid to deter future frivolous attempts to overturn results.
In Miami and again in Canada, the Austrian team challenged George Russell's results, claiming a yellow flag violation in the former and erratic driving behind the Safety Car in the latter.
Both protests were thrown out.
However, the protests, which led to delays in officially confirming the results, especially in Canada, led to claims that the minimal fee for lodging them (€2,000) was too low and almost encouraged teams to question the actions of rivals.
Among the crowing about the sport's growing fan-base following yesterday's meeting of the F1 Commission was the revelation that it had been agreed "that the deposit fees for protests, appeals and right of reviews should be evaluated with a view to those fees being adjusted".
Seemingly the "introduction of a fee for investigations was also discussed".
Speaking in Austria, Toto Wolff, whose team has twice been the subject of Red Bull's protests, revealed that the matter was to be raised at the meeting of the commission.
"It's a lot of money," he told reporters, "and in Formula 1 we need to be careful that we are still being perceived as not over the top in relation to the normal world.
"But in that instance, absolutely put in a fine," he added, "and I think the President of the FIA is working on that. "Put in a fine that, at least if you lose it, is a little bit of an embarrassment that you lost so much money, and you're going to think twice whether you do it.
"I think this is along the lines the FIA are thinking."
The Mercedes boss was also unhappy at the timing of the Montreal protest.
"Everybody misses planes going home, and we end up with a result that was a little bit predictable," he said. "That's something that I thought was not necessary."