Australian GP: F1 fans react to bizarre piercing and jewellery ban reminder by FIA

Ahead of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, F1 organisers have reminded drivers across teams to not wear jewellery or body piercings when competing in the Melbourne race. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who is known for turning up at race weekends wearing chains and ear piercings, will need to be careful not to breach the rule come Sunday.

The ruling was included in the Melbourne event notes issued by new FIA race director Niels Wittich, who is alternating the position with Eduardo Freitas during the 2022 F1 season following Michael Masi's sacking. 

Appendix L, Chapter III of Article 5 of the governing body's International Sporting Code states, "The wearing of jewellery in the form of body piercing or metal neck chains is prohibited during the competition and may therefore be checked before the start."

Rather than being a fresh clampdown, FIA has simply reminded drivers about the ISC's jewellery ruling, which has been in place since 2005. The ban was introduced as a safety measure to reduce drivers' risk when they need to escape from a car following a crash.

Several drivers across the grid have been spotted wearing rings and bracelets in their cars in the recent past. Any breach this weekend is likely to be met with a fine rather than any kind of sporting penalty.

Following this reminder, several F1 fans took to Twitter to react to the possible crackdown on their favourite drivers for sporting jewellery and piercings. Here's a look at what some people had to say:

The Australian Grand Prix returns to the F1 calendar for the first time since 2019 after the last two events have been cancelled. The track returns with an updated layout to boost the number of overtakes on Sunday.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton heads into this weekend's race already 29 points adrift of early championship leader Charles Leclerc after a difficult opening two rounds of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. 

After claiming a podium finish in third in the season-opener, Hamilton could only recover to 10th in Jeddah after suffering his worst qualifying performance in terms of pure pace since 2009. 

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