Rumor: FIA working on penalty for Lewis Hamilton

The Middle East’s presence in Formula 1 has continued to grow once again this season, with races set to be held in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi this season.

Unfortunately, a lot of regions in the Middle East still find homosexuality illegal and regularly punish homosexuals with prison time.

Lewis Hamilton has made a stand against these awful human rights laws and has shown his support for the LGBT community by wearing a helmet with a rainbow design to races in the Middle East.

During FP1 of the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton’s helmet featured a rainbow going down the center of the design, similar to the designs that he wore in the past but with a yellow background rather than black.

The FIA have banned political, religious and personal gestures ahead of the 2023 season, with such gestures being punishable in many ways unless they have been approved by F1’s governing body.

It is yet to be seen exactly how the FIA will react to Hamilton’s helmet design, as the rules surrounding such gestures still remain slightly unclear.

These gestures can be punished via a fine, time penalty and lap deletion to name a few potential consequences, making Hamilton’s gesture a bold one.

While Formula 1 and the FIA claim that they are closely monitoring the issue, how they deal with Hamilton’s defiance will say a lot about they plan to tackle the criticism of some of their host countries.