Romain Grosjean called out the FIA over their "childish" jewellery stand-off with Lewis Hamilton and believes there are "too many rules" in Formula 1.
For many years, it has been written into law that F1 drivers are not allowed to wear jewellery while driving their cars. But while it was in the rulebook, it was one of those matters that was rarely, if ever, actually enforced.
But FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem decided earlier this year that his federation would be clamping down on it. That led to a lengthy stand-off with Hamilton, who felt it was a ridiculous rule and even began turning up to media interviews wearing more jewellery than usual, just to make a point.
He also had some medical exemptions over his nose stud, which he argued was difficult to remove. But as the FIA issued an ultimatum he eventually backed down, removing it ahead of first practice ahead of the British Grand Prix in early July.
And it is far from the only off-track issue which has taken the gloss off the racing action this season. One of the more recent involved Fernando Alonso, when he finished P7 in the USA, but had that taken away from him after a Haas protest after the race before having his points finish reinstated several days later.
Despite F1's massive growth over the past few years, Grosjean feels some of those newer fans may be turned off if arguments continue to overshadow the sport. "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," the former Haas racer told Sky Sports' Any Driven Monday programme.
"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. 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.
"Same as the cost cap, you know, I think Red Bull the only one [punished] for, let's say two million over budget. So it's not a huge deal. But let's say they had been 10 or 20 million above the budget. What would you have done? Would you take away the world championship 10 or 11 months later? It's just been a little bit complicated, and a few things need to be tidied up.
"But the cost cap is probably one of the best things, with the halo, that came to Formula 1 in the last 20 years. So that's great. The racing is great, the enthusiasm in the States is huge. Everyone talks about Formula 1. So there's definitely a really good wave to surf here."
