F1 Reporter Banned for Rest of Season by FIA After Criticism of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc

Formula 1 Racing's governing body has banned a reporter from covering races in person for the remainder of the 2026 season after they recently wrote an article criticizing driver Charles Leclerc.

According to Dan Sheldon of The Athletic, Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile general manager Alberto Villarreal sent a letter to Daily Mail reporter Jonathan McEvoy, informing him of the FIA's decision.

"The FIA considers that your article falls short of the standards of professionalism expected of media representatives accredited to cover the FIA Formula 1 world championship," the letter read. "Accordingly, the FIA has decided to exercise its discretion under the 2026 FIA Formula 1 world championship accreditation guidelines to withdraw your media accreditation for the remainder of the 2026 season, with immediate effect."

As a result of the ban, McEvoy will not be given media credentials for the final three races of the season, which are the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Qatar Grand Prix and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Per Sheldon, McEvoy wrote an opinion piece on Nov. 4 in which he called Leclerc a "sneaky little b-----d" following Leclerc's run-in with Lewis Hamilton during the Mexico Grand Prix.

Despite being Hamilton's teammate with Ferrari, Leclerc battled with Hamilton for the lead on the opening lap of the Mexico Grand Prix, resulting in both of them going off the track.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen went on to win the race, while Hamilton finished second and Leclerc came in fourth.

Hamilton suggested after the race that he and Leclerc were able to bury the hatchet, telling Sky Sports (h/t ESPN's Nate Saunders), "Me and Charles, we sat and spoke and we squashed it and we're moving on. I think we still have a huge amount of respect for each other. I'm glad we had a chat and now we move on."

McEvoy wrote the column about Leclerc nonetheless, although he went on to say that his comments about Leclerc were "light-hearted" and "joshing" in nature, per Sheldon.

Daily Mail head of sport Chris Dean provided a statement to Sheldon in which he admonished the FIA for its decision, saying, "This is an unprecedented and outrageous attack on the freedom of the press. We are in dangerous territory when the FIA react in such a heavy-handed way to some mild and fair criticism of one driver."

While there are still three races remaining in the 2026 F1 season, the drivers' and constructors' champions have already been determined.

Kimi Antonelli, 20, clinched his first career F1 title at the Mexico Grand Prix on Nov. 1, and Mercedes clinched its ninth constructors' championship at the São Paulo Grand Prix on Nov. 8.