Brown: FIA right to constrain drivers' political statements

McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown says he agrees with the FIA's recent decision to curb the display of political or personal statements by drivers on race weekends.

Formula 1's governing body recently amended its International Sporting Code which now includes a provision that bans drivers from expressing or displaying "political, religious and personal statements", unless they have been previously approved by the FIA.

The decision follows several years during which political and environmental activism came to the fore in F1, with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel using their platform to regularly denounce on race weekends injustice, inequalities or climate change issues.

Brown admits that the FIA's stance is a "tricky" one as certain topics deserve to be brought under the spotlight and debated.

"It's tricky, right? Because some of the topics are really good, some are controversial, some are polarizing," the McLaren boss told ESPN.

"I think in general we want to be a sport that is doing good. We just need to find a balance there and not have every start of a race being a new political agenda for someone.

"I don't think that's healthy as it can detract from what everyone has tuned in to, which is they want to watch a grand prix."

Read also:

• FIA tightens its grip: No more 'political statements' by F1 drivers

While Brown believes that the FIA has made the right move, he is also happy that the latter has kept "the door open" for drivers and teams to talk to the FIA if there's an issue they want to discuss.

"It wasn't a 'You can't do it.' It was 'You can't do it without our permission.' So at least the door is open," he added.

"Everyone is allowed freedom of speech. It did get out of control at times with so much messaging going on ... does it detract from the focus of the sport?

"These drivers can do this stuff in their own time, so I think it is within Formula One and the FIA's right to say here's the code of conduct we expect for you to follow during a grand prix weekend.

"You're free to do whatever you want to do Monday through to Friday, so to speak, but obviously it's at a grand prix weekend the drivers have the most cameras on them."

Many believe the FIA is following a course set out by FIFA which prohibited football players and officials from wearing the "One Love" rainbow armband at the World Cup in Qatar recently.

"I'm not sure if something triggered it, I don't know if it's coming out of the World Cup and it being a big topic there," Brown said.

"Politics is tricky by nature. That's what they're probably, at a macro level, trying to avoid is let's not have Formula One become a political hotbed for various topics. But it is damned if you do, damned if you don't, on some of these topics.

"I think that's what we're trying to avoid, let's not turn Formula One into a political sport. Let's just go racing and be respectful of where we're racing.

"There's not a one-size-fits-all in this world for political parties or political agendas, so I think there's a good way that every team, driver, can carry their values in a way that's noncontroversial.

"It's becoming a hot topic in all these sports. In NFL it was taking a knee, that started there. You've got the armbands in Qatar. I think those things can start to deviate away from sport, and that's where we need to find the right balance."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter