Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Daniel Juncadella has accused the FIA of applying its rules inconsistently after Lewis Hamilton escaped punishment for a middle-finger gesture during the Miami Grand Prix, despite Juncadella receiving a €5,000 fine for a similar incident in the World Endurance Championship last year.
The footage from Miami was not shown during the race, but later clips from Hamilton’s Ferrari onboard showed him making the gesture toward Alpine driver Franco Colapinto on the back straight after contact between the two on the opening lap. Colapinto had defended hard into Turn 11, braked late and touched the side of Hamilton’s car with his front wheel, leaving the Ferrari with what Hamilton later said was damage worth about half a second per lap.
Hamilton still finished sixth, one place ahead of Colapinto, but the incident quickly became less about the clash itself and more about the FIA’s response. Juncadella, the Spanish GT and endurance driver, reacted on social media by writing: “So I take it there wasn’t a fine, was there?” He then added: “The FIA’s double standards… They never fail.”
His frustration came from his own case at the 2025 WEC season finale in Bahrain, where he was fined €5,000, with €4,000 suspended, for directing the same gesture at Augusto Farfus. In that ruling, the WEC stewards described Juncadella’s behavior as “rude, disrespectful and wholly inappropriate in motorsport.”
When some argued Hamilton’s gesture was harmless, Juncadella did not back away from the comparison. He said: “I don’t think it’s right for him to do that. But slap him with a €5,000 fine, exactly like they did with me.”
The episode has revived questions about how the FIA now polices driver conduct after tightening its stance on crude language and behavior. The governing body later drew a distinction between “controlled” situations, such as official press conferences, and more emotional “non-controlled” moments. That framework would likely place Hamilton’s in-car reaction in the second category, which may explain why no sanction followed, but it also leaves Juncadella’s Bahrain penalty open to fresh scrutiny.