Noel León finished seventh in the Formula Two race at Spa on Sunday, earning six points in the drivers' championship, and left the circuit. More than three hours after the chequered flag, the FIA governing body disqualified him for a breach of appendix 5 and article 21.5 of the F2 Sporting Regulations – the rule governing headset use. A guest of León had worn a headset with a microphone in the Campos garage, though the microphone was upturned and unused. León had no knowledge of the offence and derived no advantage from the extra microphone.
Petty penalties and meaningless bureaucracy
The FIA's rulebook has a fondness for petty penalties and meaningless bureaucracy. During F1 races, minor infractions often draw immediate punishment. But the larger issue is that sport no longer ends on the field of play. Results are now placeholders for negotiation, litigation and re-litigation.
Rise of sports arbitration
In 1990, the court of arbitration for sport in Lausanne received seven requests. By the 2000s, it heard a few dozen cases a year. Now that number is close to 1,000, ranging from unpaid wages to the definition of a woman, and potentially deciding who won the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations. The Confederation of African Football awarded the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations to Morocco after Senegal walked off in protest at refereeing decisions, then returned to win 1-0, but were deemed to have forfeited.
Premier League legal battles
The Premier League’s legal battle with Manchester City has stretched into its fourth year, with no end in sight. City deny wrongdoing, but the case leaves an entire era of English football’s history and legacy being argued slowly in secret. Football is the main culprit: too big, too rich, too toxic, too tribal, and loosely governed.
Trump and Fifa
When Donald Trump successfully lobbied Fifa to overturn a red card for a player he had almost certainly never heard of before June 2026, it was not a shock but an act on trend. There is an entire apparatus constructed to indulge those who don’t like a result: lawyers, administrators, and social media clones.
Rules imply fairness, the concept that we are all equal and to be treated the same. But in a landscape where fairness is the enemy, brute power supplants rules. Once you start messing with sport after it has finished, even in tiny ways, the big stuff is only around the corner.
